Poilievre’s Windsor warehouse campaign rally draws thousands

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s first campaign stop in Windsor drew thousands on Friday.

Packed inside a warehouse on Dodge Drive near Central Avenue, Poilievre’s supporters cheered loudly as the politician reiterated his strategy to boost Canada’s economic activity, including pledges to cut income tax by 15 per cent, remove federal sales tax on new Canadian cars, and eliminate federal sales tax on new homes up to $1.3 million, among other things.

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“Let’s start with the obvious fact that the destructive tariffs of Donald Trump are utterly unacceptable and wrong, and we will fight back against them,” said Poilievre during what his party called a “Canada First Rally.”

“We will also fight to protect the jobs of our workers. Conservatives will put in place a fund to give liquidity to our manufacturers to keep paying workers, keep them employed, minimize the disruption until hopefully we can get this dispute resolved.”

Poilievre said that “nobody can control” what the president does and argued Liberal Leader Mark Carney “is running on the false promise that somehow he can magically handle Trump.

“We will fight to get an end to the tariffs while protecting our sovereignty, starting on day one, but we must focus on what we can control in this country.”

Poilievre said the country “cannot afford” the Liberal government for a fourth term.

“We need a change in government with a Conservative Party that will put Canada first for a change.”

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Polievre’s speech was briefly interrupted when a woman in the crowd fainted and required medical attention. Once medical personnel had tended to the woman, Poilievre made his way through the crowd and bent down to speak with her.

A Conservative Party staffer told reporters the woman had overheated but was expected to be fine.

Ahead of Poilievre’s speech, Chris Lewis, the Conservative incumbent candidate for Essex, took the stage. He called on supporters to volunteer, share the party’s social media posts online, and vote.

Kathy Borrelli, the Conservative candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, led the crowd in singing O Canada.

Also present were Harb Gill, the Conservative candidate for Windsor West, and Dave Epp, the Conservative incumbent candidate for Chatham—Kent—Leamington.

Ahead of the rally, a small group of protesters demonstrated across the street from the warehouse. A few rally-goers on their way to the event exchanged expletives with some protesters in a tense verbal altercation before moving on.

Election day is April 28.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

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