2 days Ago By Ari Yanover
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised on the campaign trail Sunday he’d exempt investors and businesses from capital-gains taxes if they put profits back into Canadian companies, saying the change would be like “rocket fuel” for the economy. Meanwhile, the federal Liberal party faced mounting pressure to remove an incumbent candidate who suggested handing over a Conservative candidate to Chinese authorities to collect a lucrative bounty. At the same time, the Liberals refused to let their former MP Han Dong, embroiled in a China-interference controversy, run again under the Liberal banner in this election.
Poilievre took advantage of a day when Liberal Leader Mark Carney had no public events to unveil the Conservatives’ latest economic policy plank. He also used it to blast Carney over comments by Liberal Paul Chiang about capturing a Conservative candidate critical of the Chinese communist regime and handing him over for a reward . The Tory leader said a government he led would exempt businesses and individuals from capital gains tax when they sell shares, real estate and other assets if they ploughed the gains back into Canadian enterprises.
As it stands now, the prospect of paying capital-gains tax is a disincentive to selling old assets that could be used to build housing, manufacturing or other businesses, said Poilievre. “This will be like economic rocket fuel for Canada, to put us in liftoff,” he said on the floor of a plastics factory in north-end Toronto. “We will soar above the Americans .
.. and make this country boom.
The Americans will see the investment pouring back over the border into Canada. It will allow us to build the infrastructure we need — pipelines, mines, factories, export terminals.” He cited Canada’s declining rates of investment and per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) during what he calls the “lost Liberal decade” since Justin Trudeau was first elected, but said his plan would help reverse the slide in standard of living.
Not only would the proposed tax break lead to more investment in domestic businesses, it would encourage people to sell assets abroad with no penalty if they put the profits into companies here, said Poilievre..
