'We’re going to bring home our freedom again': Pierre Poilievre vows to axe Trudeau’s carbon tax and anti-free speech legislation during Toronto rally

Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre spoke to an enthusiastic audience at the Toronto Congress Centre in Etobicoke on Sunday for his "Spike the Hike - Axe the Tax" rally. The rally took aim at the Trudeau Liberals' latest carbon tax increase which goes into effect on April 1.

"Axe the tax!" Poilievre said, as he took to the stage, with the crowd chanting along. "Who is ready to spike the hike? Who is ready to axe the tax? Who's ready to make common sense common again? Who's ready for affordable homes, affordable food, affordable gas? And who's ready to make all these things in Canada again? In other words, BRING IT HOME!" he said. 



"April 1st, April Fool's Day, and with Justin Trudeau and the NDP, the joke is on you," Poilievre said. "23% hike, coming to your gas, your heat, your groceries, everything set to go up. It is a tax on every single thing that you buy."

Poilievre used real-world examples that highlight how through a "cascading increase," the tax drives up costs to the point where it can be cheaper to buy imported products instead of ones produced closer to home.

"Remember he told us that he would give you all the money back and more. It was like that uncle who sends you an email from a faraway country claiming that you don't know who he is, but he's going to pass away soon and he wants to bequeath you a million dollars. You just need to give him your credit card and password and he'll deposit into your account. Right? One of these scams. That's the Trudeau tax scam."

At one point, Poilievre began munching on an apple, a callback to a viral clip in which he destroyed a journalist while casually munching on a piece of fruit.

"That is very rude. I'm sorry. These are very delicious," he said. "But you know what they say: an apple a day keeps the liberal journalists away."

He pointed out former Liberal MP John Nunziata, who was in the audience, and spoke of "common sense Liberals" who have "been abandoned by the radical agenda of Justin Trudeau." He said "We are welcoming all those common sense Liberals into our party."

Poilievre then announced a massive pressure campaign to vote against the Jagmeet Singh's NDP and the Trudeau Liberals "in favour of spiking the hike and axing the tax."

Poilievre also described his plans to lower housing costs, at one point stating he would "sell off 6000 federal buildings and thousands of acres of federal land to 'build build build'." He said "It warms my heart to think of a beautiful family pulling up in their U-Haul to move into their wonderful new home in the former headquarters of the CBC," to which the audience went wild.

Poilievre also described issues such as rising crime and addiction rates, and his plans to tackle them.

He also said he would invest more money into the military to support Canada's troops. "They're the guarantors of our freedom."

Poilievre went on to say "We're going to bring home our freedom again" and that he will repeal internet censorship law C-11, ban ministers and MPs from involvement in the World Economic Forum, that there would be no mandatory digital ID, and no central bank digital currency.

Poilievre closed his speech by saying "Right now it feels like we're a long way from home, doesn't it? With all the misery we're suffering, and all the hopelessness and division our Prime Minister has caused, it feels like we're a long way from home, so it's kind of hard to remember what home looked like. How beautiful it was, and how much more beautiful it can be." He then painted an optimistic vision.

"These are our people. That is our country. This is our home. Your home, my home, our home, let's bring it home!"