Poilievre pledges to cut income tax, slash government spending if elected as Canada's next PM

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre kicked off the federal election campaign by focusing on key ridings around Toronto. On Monday, he promised to lower income taxes, pledging a 2.25 percentage point reduction in the lowest personal income tax bracket.

Speaking at a Kruger plant in Brampton, Ontario, Poilievre announced that he would cut the tax rate from 15 percent to 12.75 percent, a move his party says would result in $900 in annual savings for an average individual and $1,800 for a dual-income family.

“This is a tax cut for seniors who are drawing their pension or retirement income. This is a tax cut for the workers behind me. This is a tax cut for the waitress, for the welder, for the barber,” Poilievre said. “This is a tax cut for everybody who has ever got up early in the morning and worked hard to build our country.”

The Conservatives project that the tax reduction would cost the government $7 billion annually for the first two years, increasing to $14 billion per year by 2027-28. Poilievre stated that his government would offset the cost through spending cuts.

“We will be cutting bureaucracy, cutting consultants, cutting handouts to insiders, and we will cut back on foreign aid,” he said, according to the Canadian Press. “We will also bring in a dollar-for-dollar law that will require ministers to find one dollar of new savings for every dollar of new spending.”

While Poilievre did not provide a timeline for releasing a fully costed platform, he reiterated his previous commitment to funding a new military base in Iqaluit by cutting foreign aid. According to Global Affairs Canada, Canada’s foreign aid spending in 2023 totaled approximately $15.5 billion, with $7 billion allocated to official development assistance and $6.3 billion directed toward loans and development financing—75 percent of which went to Ukraine.

The announcement follows Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s pledge on Sunday to cut the lowest income tax bracket by one percentage point, a move he claims would save a dual-income family up to $825 per year.

Poilievre launched his campaign with a rally in North York on Sunday night, where hundreds of supporters packed a hotel ballroom. The event drew so many attendees that staff had to turn people away.

Poilievre slammed the Liberal government, arguing that their tax policies have weakened Canada’s economy and made it too dependent on the United States.

“I know that people are scared. They feel threatened. They’ve lived through hell over the last decade, and now they’re facing these unjustified threats from (U.S. President Donald) Trump, who, quite frankly, needs to knock it off,” he said.