Prime Minister Mark Carney repeatedly stated in the spring that Canada was facing “the biggest crisis of our lifetimes.” Still, his government recessed the House of Commons after a short four week parliamentary session. Today, after a twelve week summer break, Canada is seized with mounting crises. Canadians are suffering 1) a housing shortage crisis – despite the government’s plan, housing starts are declining because of the economy; 2) a cost of living crisis – life is unaffordable with the rising costs of food and shelter, inflation, and rising unemployment; 3) an economic crisis is worsened by Carney’s failure to reach a trade agreement with the U.S. and to address pressing domestic business issues; and, 4) a national unity crisis – with the Liberals agitating both western alienation and Quebec separatism.
There are three policy areas that are pivotal to address these crises and restore confidence in the country’s path forward: 1) a national economic strategy that will jumpstart business development and bolster the country’s sagging GDP productivity; 2) a revised immigration approach that will ease pressure on housing, health care and social services, while meeting the needs of our country’s aging demographic; and, 3) a justice policy that will reaffirm law and order, and reassure Canadians’ public safety. With each of these areas, the Conservatives are providing alternative policies to those of the Carney Liberals. With parliament resuming next week, Canadians will now have an opportunity to follow the debate and assess what is in the best interest of the country.
Liberals’ One Canadian Economy Act vs. Conservatives’ Canadian Sovereignty Act
To address the country’s economic crisis, the Carney Liberals announced that they would use the hammer of the One Canadian Economy Act to fast-track national infrastructure projects. After pushing this legislation through parliament in June, today, Canadians have seen no action but the opening of a bureaucratic major projects office on Sept. 1 and, only yesterday, the publication of a promised list of nation-building projects. For all the urgency conveyed by Carney, there has been no announcement of a new major project for Canada – no new investment, no shovels breaking ground, no job creation.
Instead, through the summer it has been explained by the prime minister and ministers in a series of media events that investors and companies looking to start energy infrastructure projects in Canada, 1) must have federal cabinet approval and support to by-pass the no-new pipeline law C-69, the west coast tanker ban, and other restrictive Trudeau-era laws; 2) meet federal green goals and net zero energy transition targets; 3) get the unanimous support of the provinces; and, 4) get the approval (and inclusion?) of First Nations people. Those investors and companies will also need to factor the additional expenses associated with the increased costs of the industrial carbon tax.
Alternatively, the Conservatives are championing a Canadian Sovereignty Act (CSA) that is designed to promote resource development and support domestic industries. The CSA will scrap C-69 “no more pipelines act,” C-48 oil tanker ban on the West Coast, the oil and gas emissions cap, Carney’s industrial carbon tax, the electric vehicle mandate, and the single-use plastic ban. It will also include the Conservative election promise to exempt Canadians from capital gains tax when they reinvest their investment proceeds in Canadian companies and projects.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre stated the CSA will spur the government commitment to the accelerated development of two major pipelines, a new liquified natural gas facility, and the highway necessary to open up northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire. The intent of the motion is to “get shovels in the ground on major nation-building projects between now and March 14th (2026), the one-year anniversary of Mark Carney taking office.”
Liberals’ soft-on-crime approach vs. Conservatives’ jail-not-bail justice
The Liberals espouse a soft-on-crime approach to Canadian justice, one that has resulted in a catch-and-release justice system that releases repeat violent offenders back into the community, with many on unconditional bail. The Liberals’ justice policy took away the country’s mandatory minimum sentences for serious violent crimes, and it has extended judicial discretion for sentencing that takes into account ethnicity and socio-economic background for those persons found guilty. This policy also makes it incumbent upon prosecutors to prove that denying bail is justified. It establishes the principle of restraint whereby a judge must release the accused “at the earliest of opportunity” on the “least onerous conditions,” regardless of the circumstances of the offender and the offense. With these conditions now established, it is easier for serious repeat offenders to obtain bail quickly, including those charged with gun crimes, sexual assault, and other violent offences.
The results of the Liberal policy can be seen in the country’s crime statistics. The overall violent crime rate in Canada including murder, robbery, and assault with a weapon has increased by 43.8 per cent increase since 2014, and it is now 14 per cent higher per capita than the U.S. violent crime rate. Also, the national figures for property crimes, which include burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, etc., are 27.5 per cent higher in Canada than in the U.S.
The Conservatives are presenting a list of legislative changes to Canada’s justice system that will “end the Liberal crime wave and put public safety first.” The “jail not bail” legislation will 1) repeal and replace the Liberal “principle of restraint” with a directive that the primary consideration for bail is the protection and safety of the public; 2) introduce a new “major offences” category with reverse onus bail conditions for firearm, sexual, kidnapping, human trafficking, home invasion, robbery, extortion, arson and assault charges; 3) strengthen bail laws by mandating judges to consider specifics in the accused history and the risk of reoffending while on bail; and 4) strengthen bail conditions and enforcement of those conditions.
Liberals’ immigration approach vs. Conservatives’ Canada First immigration and refugee proposal
The Liberals’ open border immigration policies have resulted in more than doubling of the annual immigration growth rates as compared to when they took office in 2015 (617,800 people from 2000 to 2015 vs 1.4 million from 2016 to 2024). Last year Canada had the extraordinary record number of 1,916,700 people enter the country. In the first four months of 2025, Immigration Canada reported more than 817,000 people arrived in Canada. At this rate, Canada can expect more than 2.4 million people will arrive in the country this year – not including those migrants accepted as refugees or asylum seekers, such as the people who were recently jetted over from Gaza.
This is the mass migration approach suggested by the Century Initiative – a Canadian lobby organization that is advocating for Canada to grow its population to 100 million people through immigration. The Carney Liberals are committed to mass migration with Carney’s chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, having been the ambassador to the U.N. who oversaw Canada sign onto the U.N. Migration Pact, and Mark Wiseman, former Blackrock executive and currently key advisor to the prime minister, being the co-author of the Century Initiative policy.
The alternative Conservative immigration policy calls for a “Canada First” approach that will “invite the right people in the right numbers so our jobs, healthcare and housing can catch up.” The Conservatives point out that there is a need for negative population growth for “some period” to “restore an equilibrium” between the country’s population and its ability to provide housing, jobs, and social services. There would be a “hard rule” that immigration levels should be set such that the housing stock, job market, and even the supply of doctors are higher than population growth.
Last week the Conservatives announced another immigration proposal to scrap the temporary foreign worker program, which permitted 240,000 foreigners to work in Canada in 2023. This program would be permanently abolished and a new standalone program for “difficult-to-fill agricultural labour” would be introduced.
As a concluding thought, in an Ottawa media scrum previewing the return of MPs to Parliament Hill, Poilievre was reflecting on the summer months and he observed, “This has been a Seinfeld summer for Mark Carney.” Poilievre likened the prime minister to the show’s comic foil George Costanza, stating that nothing has been achieved under Carney’s watch so far and everything is getting worse. “He is almost as busy and as useless as George Costanza. It has been a big show about nothing.”
But alas, on Monday parliament resumes, and the plug will be pulled on the summertime Seinfeld episode. Given the multiple crises Canadians are currently coping with, it is increasingly important to recognize the vastly different policy approaches of the Liberals and Conservatives. And contrary to the claims of the Liberal shills, and the government-sponsored legacy media, the Conservatives do provide Canadians with an alternative policy path forward.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
