OTTAWA – The Conservative leadership contest is heating up one week before the party’s first debate, with Ontario MP and former cabinet minister Lisa Raitt officially entering the race, and fellow candidate Michael Chong proposing sweeping tax cuts funded by taxing carbon emissions.
Raitt submitted her paperwork to Conservative party headquarters on Tuesday and officially announced her leadership bid Wednesday with a video message posted to Facebook and Twitter that trumpets her humble roots and takes a shot at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – vowing she can beat the Liberal PM in the 2019 election.
The 75-second video is interspersed with grainy pictures of her childhood in Cape Breton, N.S., as well as clips of her as an MP and federal cabinet minister, and some with her two sons playing hockey. The video ends with her apparent campaign slogan: Victory in 2019.
“They tell us it’s the era of sunny ways, yet so many can’t see the sun. Canada needs a leader who is going to fight for the striving many, not just the privileged few,” Raitt says in the video, a version of which was made in English and French.
“We need a leader who will beat Trudeau in the next election, who knows what Canada looks like from the bottom, who will work to create opportunity for every striver at every age. I will be that leader.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puzvf9oDzNY&w=640&h=390]
Candidates had until Wednesday to join the race – including filing the required signatures from members and initial $25,000 installment of the $50,000 entry fee – in order to participate in the Conservative party’s first leadership debate Nov. 9 in Saskatoon, which could see as many as a dozen candidates verbally duking it out.
Raitt has long been viewed as one of the Conservative party’s most competent, credible and capable MPs, and whose authenticity and humility are seen as one of her strengths. But now that she’s officially in the race, she has a lot of catch-up to do on collecting donations and MP endorsements.
Raitt, an Ontario MP for the riding of Milton, is originally from Sydney, N.S. and has strong ties to Atlantic Canada. She is well-liked and respected in the Conservative caucus and throughout the party.
Raitt, 48, was elected to the House of Commons in 2008 and served in cabinet in Stephen Harper’s government in the portfolios of Transport, Natural Resources and Labour. Prior to entering federal politics, she was the president and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority.
She served as the Conservative party’s finance critic until resigning in mid-October to pursue a leadership bid.
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Raitt is seen as a moderate voice of reason in the party but someone who’s also a fierce advocate for lower taxes and balanced budgets. She’s friends with former senior cabinet minister Peter MacKay and could benefit from him not entering the race.
Arguably Raitt’s biggest challenge is that she isn’t fully bilingual – something many Conservatives say is absolutely essential in their next leader. She has acknowledged her French needs work and it will be tested on the campaign trail, including in some of the debates.
Raitt revealed in September her longtime partner and new husband Bruce Wood has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.
Also Wednesday, fellow leadership candidate Chong announced his plan for broad-based tax cuts and carbon pricing, promising a revenue-neutral federal carbon tax that would see all dollars raised returned to Canadian taxpayers, much like the model used in British Columbia.
His plan would see a sweeping set of personal and corporate tax cuts introduced in 2020, while introducing a national carbon price and revenue-neutral federal carbon tax that reaches $130 per tonne of emissions by 2030.
Chong’s proposal would cut personal income taxes by 10 per cent across the board, or $14.9 billion a year starting in 2020, and chop corporate income taxes by five per cent, saving businesses $1.9 billion a year.
Ernest Doroszuk/PostmediaMP Michael Chong
Under Chong’s plan, the national carbon price would start in 2018 at $10 per tonne of emissions, (as per the Liberal government’s current strategy), increasing $10 per year until reaching $130 per tonne in 2030.
He says the Liberal government’s carbon pricing plan will place a huge burden on Canadian consumers and companies because it doesn’t guarantee revenue neutrality to the taxpayer.
Chong expects his federal carbon tax would generate $18.1 billion in revenue from the household and transportation sectors once fully implemented in 2030.
It would be up to the provinces to price carbon in other sectors. If they don’t, the federal government would then impose a carbon tax in those sectors and give all the revenues back to each province.
Chong’s tax plan would reduce the number of income-tax brackets from the current five down to two, leaving the 15- and 29-per-cent brackets at the current thresholds. The Working Income Tax Benefit would be doubled to provide tax relief to low-income Canadians, while a new GST/HST and Carbon Credit would help offset the carbon tax paid by low-income individuals.
To pay for his sweeping tax reforms, Chong would use the expected $18.1 billion in revenue generated from the federal carbon tax when it’s fully implemented in 2030. He would also eliminate half of the $22.9 billion in tax loopholes, which includes boutique tax credits, freeing up $11.5 billion in additional revenue.
“Strengthening the economy and protecting the environment should go hand-in-hand,” Chong said.
• Email: jfekete@postmedia.com | Twitter: jasonfekete