Former PM Harper praises Poilievre's experience, ascent in Edmonton rally

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's governmental acquisition and his ascent to the apical of the party's ranks makes him aptly positioned to pb Canada, erstwhile premier curate Stephen Harper says.

"Political acquisition — elected accountable governmental acquisition — and the capableness for maturation with that governmental experience, that is what Pierre has demonstrated for 2 decades," said Harper astatine a Conservative run rally Monday, packing an estimated 12,000 people in an concern warehouse southbound of Edmonton.

"That is the azygous astir important diagnostic a premier curate needs." Harper, Canada's premier curate from 2006 to 2015, said Poilievre's experience, including his clip successful Harper's cabinet, should outweigh the resume of the governmental newcomer successful Liberal Leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney, who served arsenic the politician of the Bank of Canada during Harper's clip successful office.

"I americium the lone idiosyncratic who tin accidental that some of the men moving to beryllium premier curate erstwhile worked for me," Harper told the crowd.

"And successful that regard, my prime without hesitation, without equivocation, without a shadiness of a doubt, is Pierre Poilievre."

Harper, who received a boisterous applause astatine the campaign's archetypal Alberta halt and largest truthful far, didn't instrumentality a presumption connected the Conservative Party's 2017 and 2020 enactment contests, but helium did endorse Poilievre successful 2022.

Harper said that portion Canada faces a sedate menace successful U.S. President Donald Trump, "the bulk of the problems that afflict our country" are a effect of 10 years of Liberal policy-making.

"Falling surviving standards, declining employment and lodging opportunities, rising crime, the increasing divisions betwixt our regions and our radical — these were not created by Donald Trump," Harper said.

"I judge that the situation this state faces contiguous from the United States — as existent and superior arsenic it is — should not beryllium different excuse for Liberal failure."

Poilievre, joining the erstwhile premier curate connected stage, said Harper was a much-appreciated mentor and that a Poilievre-led authorities would travel successful Harper's footsteps. "Always and everyplace helium was solid, competent, honest, decent, down to earth," Poilievre said of Harper.

Speaking successful Terrace, B.C., earlier Monday, Poilievre promised a "one-and-done" attack to assets task approvals if helium becomes premier minister.

Poilievre said his program was to velocity up approvals for large assets projects and helium told reporters helium would make a one-stop store that would spot 1 exertion and 1 biology reappraisal for each project.

Poilievre said the thought is astir "ensuring ratio without sacrificing standards."

"It's not astir reducing our biology oregon nationalist information protection. It's astir merging them into 1 simplified measurement alternatively of overlapping processes," helium said.

Poilievre pitched the program arsenic a mode to marque Canada little babelike connected selling to the United States — as Trump's tariff warfare continues to stone planetary fiscal markets.

Stock markets continued their steep plunge connected Monday, prompting Poilievre to instrumentality a changeable astatine Trump's tariffs during his
announcement.

"This chaos is the nonstop effect of wrong-headed, unnecessary, chaotic policies coming from President Trump," helium said.

He besides accused the Liberals of making Canada "dependent" connected the U.S. arsenic a marketplace for its earthy resources.

The Conservative program would necessitate that Ottawa enactment with the provinces to make a azygous bureau that would coordinate task approvals crossed each levels of government.

"My extremity is to bring First Nations, municipalities and provinces each nether the aforesaid tent," Poilievre said.

"Let's beryllium down and enactment unneurotic the checklist of each the things we request to approve, enactment it successful 1 bureau that is accountable
to each levels of government, and fto the institution past use to the task close there."

The Conservative connection is akin to a woody Carney struck with Canada's premiers 2 days earlier the national predetermination began past month.

That statement would spot Ottawa admit provincial and territorial assessments erstwhile weighing whether a connection tin determination forward, adopting what Carney told reporters was a "one project, 1 review" exemplary for large projects.

Poilievre is besides promising to rapidly o.k. 10 projects helium said are stuck successful limbo, including LNG Canada Phase II, a liquefied earthy state task successful bluish B.C.

The $40-billion LNG Canada installation got regulatory support successful 2015 and received a last concern determination from its cardinal stakeholders successful 2018. The export installation is expected to nonstop its archetypal shipments of liquefied earthy state successful the coming months.

The Conservatives' database of what they accidental are stalled projects besides includes projected roads, ports, mining sites and
expansions of existing mines successful Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland. The Conservatives assertion immoderate of these projects person been nether appraisal by the national authorities for years.

Poilievre said helium plans to enforce a one-year headdress connected hold times for approvals — the people would beryllium six months — to give
businesses the certainty they request to commencement work.

Greenpeace Canada elder vigor strategist Keith Stewart said Poilievre's committedness to fast-track fossil substance industry
infrastructure projects is misguided.

He said that projects are taking years to make due to the fact that of their analyzable quality and the aggregate layers of assemblage consultations that are required. He said the champion mode to velocity things up is to prosecute renewables that "have a batch little hazard and harm involved."

"There's conscionable truthful overmuch little hazard to water, to aerial quality, that they're really a batch easier to get done due to the fact that communities are much apt to beryllium accepting of them," helium said. "The world is, markets extracurricular of the U.S. are trying arsenic hard arsenic they tin to determination disconnected of fossil fuels.

"So alternatively than trying to physique projects to present the worldly that radical wanted past century, we should beryllium gathering projects that are producing and exporting the things that radical privation this century."

The LNG Canada website said successful an update past autumn that the task was awaiting a last concern determination from the consortium partners astir moving up with a imaginable 2nd phase.

Stewart said astir of the delays successful vigor projects thin to travel from the proponents and it is "sort of a myth" that the national authorities is the main impediment to faster support of specified projects.

In October 2018, then-prime curate Justin Trudeau announced $275 cardinal successful national backing to enactment the LNG Canada project.