Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 

Poilievre to release platform today with details on new spending and cuts

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday his party will release its costed platform today, giving voters a sense of what a government led by him would do and where it would cut to pay for it all.

The platform release comes the day after advance polls close and less than a week before election day.

Poilievre is the last major party leader to release his plan after Liberal Leader Mark Carney and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh launched theirs over the weekend.

Asked Monday why the party has waited to release the document with so little time left in the campaign, and if it's related to trouble sorting out some of the math for what's expected to be an ambitious agenda, Poilievre said the timing has nothing to do with accounting.

Read more from John Paul Tasker. 

Welcome to Canada Votes. Every day, this newsletter will bring the latest from the 2025 federal election campaign straight to your inbox. We'll have CBC Politics' top stories, updates for each of the major party leaders, a photo of the day and insights from CBC's Poll Tracker. So stay tuned, there's a lot more in store.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at an event for the Canadian Association of Retired Persons at Zoomer Media in Toronto on Monday. (Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press)

The Conservatives are using the final week of the election campaign to run advertisements where older men are telling other older men to vote for the party — a closing argument that would have been unthinkable only months ago, political advertising experts say.

In new television ads that are airing regularly during the heavily watched NHL playoffs, the Conservatives are playing one spot in which two seniors are golfing and discussing how tough life is for their children, and another where former prime minister Stephen Harper endorses Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. 

Neither commercial shows images of Poilievre.

"We're living in an upside-down world this campaign. Voters that were bedrock Conservative voters in the Harper era now need to be won over. And these are the boomers, 50-plus males," said Dennis Matthews, president of Creative Currency and a former advertising adviser to Harper.

In the 30-second golfing ad, two older men are having a conversation at a driving range. One man, while practising his swing, acknowledges his son "can't seem to get ahead," while the other, standing nearby, says he had to pay for his daughter's down payment.

The second man tries to convince his golfing buddy that Liberal Leader Mark Carney won't solve this problem. 

Read more of this story here. 

CBC's Poll Tracker

Last Updated: April 21, 2025, at 8:47 a.m.

CBC's Poll Tracker, run by Éric Grenier of TheWrit.ca, has the latest polling numbers in the federal election campaign. You can click on the photo and check out the full website, complete with seat projections and the percentage chances of each party winning the election.

Here's the latest: The Liberal lead in national polls has held steady, though it has slipped from around six or seven points to about five points on average.

So far, it doesn't appear that last week's debates shifted voting intentions enough to bump the Liberals out of majority territory as the Conservatives have been unable to break the Liberals' electorally decisive advantage in Ontario. The Bloc Québécois and New Democrats remain on track to suffer significant seat losses.

Photo of the Day

Liberal Leader Mark Carney arrives at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Monday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Ask Us

What do you want to know about the federal election? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.

People gather for the 'Elbows Up' rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa last month. (Amber Bracken/Reuters)

Listen of the day

West of Centre heads to Medicine Hat, Alta., for a timely conversation taped in front of a live audience. 

Host Kathleen Petty kicks off with talk of energy transition, federal policy and what's next for "Gas City." Then, a powerhouse panel dives into everything from regional alienation to immigration, interprovincial trade and Premier Danielle Smith’s leadership. It’s a lively conversation on what matters to Canada’s sunniest city — and where they’d like to shed more light.

Listen to West of Centre — a weekly podcast from an Albertan and otherwise west of centre perspective — right here.