Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s federal campaign kick-off rally in Toronto drew thousands of Canadians, including swing voters eager to see the excitement firsthand.
The event, held at Toronto’s Pan Pacific Hotel on Sunday evening, saw long lines of supporters eager to see the Conservative leader in person and hear his vision for Canada.
During his speech, Poilievre touched on key policy issues, vowing to repeal the consumer and industrial carbon tax, introduce tax cuts, lower immigration targets, and crack down on crime.
True North spoke with several attendees about the issues that matter most to them and their thoughts on Poilievre, as well as their impression of Liberal leader Mark Carney.
Dave Perkins, a banking professional and self-identified swing voter, attended the event with his son. He described the atmosphere as “intense” and “emotional.”
“I’m a swing voter, I just wanted to see what he’s saying and I’m just tired of 10 years of the Liberals,” said Perkins. I’m not a huge Conservative—like, I’m not a huge fan—but after ten years, I’d like a swing. I like democracy; I like changes in government.”
His son added with a laugh, “I can’t stand Trudeau.”
Perkins cited housing, crime, and taxation as key issues where he believes the Conservatives offer better solutions.
“So basically getting rid of the carbon tax, which is a good thing. Housing, we need more housing. Catch-and-release and crime policy,” said Perkins.
“Inflation, printing so much money. Look, I’m in banking; I know if you print money a lot, you get inflation. So, as a senior, I don’t like inflation. The fact that the kids can’t get jobs really ticks me off,” said Perkins, pointing to his son.
His son chimed in, expressing his frustration with the Liberals’ firearm buyback policy and their commitment to deprive legal firearm owners from legally possessing their guns.
“I guess one of the biggest things for me is that the gun ban that they’re trying to impose is just pure fear-mongering,” said the younger Perkins.
“There’s no issue with legal gun ownership, and I don’t own a gun—I definitely don’t plan on owning a gun. But they spent so much money on it, and they haven’t even confiscated a single gun; it’s insane.”
When asked about the prime minister, Perkins said that despite Carney and himself both being bankers, he does not trust him to run the country.
“Well I’m retired, he’s a banker, but he’s a rich elitist guy,” he said.
“He’s filthy rich. I’d like to know his assets, how rich he is. I’m looking for a guy who’s more middle-class to run the country—to know what the challenges are on housing, on inflation. I don’t want another guy with a silver spoon. That was Trudeau; he had a silver spoon, and Carney’s had a bigger silver spoon.”
While Perkins says that he will give Poilievre and the Conservatives a chance, if they “screw up,” he is more than willing to consider other parties to vote for.
True North also spoke with radio host Ben Mulroney who praised Poilievre and the Conservatives for reforming and adapting their party’s message to a new opinion environment.
“I think the lost Liberal decade is the way to go. There’s gonna be a lot of things to criticize the Liberals on, but the stopwatch doesn’t start, they [the Liberals] say so. It didn’t start today, it didn’t start nine days ago, it started ten years ago. That is the legacy they have to own,” said Mulroney.
Mulroney said that Conservative supporters from all walks of life are excited by Poilievre’s leadership, calling the kick-off rally a success.
“There’s enthusiasm from all walks of life, young and old, various cultural communities. I mean, this is a man who’s got support in all places from all sorts of people. So, on day one, I have to view this as a resounding success,” said Mulroney.
Campaign organizers told True North that approximately 2,500 people were in attendance before hundreds more supporters entered the venue.
The campaign turned away hundreds of people and gave them t-shirts once the venue reached maximum capacity, eventually running out of t-shirts to give away to late-comers.