Lemieux is eager to get back to work

Back in the race
Federal Conservative candidate Pierre Lemieux for the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell riding has big issues with how he views the Liberal government has burned international bridges and wasted Canadian money on burden taxes. Courtesy photo

GPR – Pierre Lemieux is throwing his hat back into the political ring in hopes of serving constituents once again as the Conservative candidate for Glengarry, Prescott and Russell.

“I was a member of parliament for 10 years, from 2006 to 2015; so I want to run again to continue the work that I started when I was a member of parliament here,” said Lemieux. “I really believe that Canadians want honesty and integrity in politicians, and I served in our Canadian Armed Forces and I’m the father of five children. So, that’s the way I’ve always conducted myself as a member of parliament over my 10 years and that’s the way I will continue to conduct myself.”

Going into the planks of his platform, Lemieux has a strong opposition against the carbon tax, which was implemented earlier this year back in April. The carbon tax was put in motion by Trudeau’s Liberal government to combat climate change by taxing carbon emissions; a form of carbon pricing. Lemieux stated the point, that while Canadians are being taxed for their carbon use, their lifestyle has not changed, impacting very little on the climate change issue. “People see the carbon tax as a penalty on them as rural Canadians because there is not much they can change in their lives,” he said. “I’ve asked people, ‘now that the carbon tax is in effect, what have you changed?’ and they always tell me that there aren’t many changes they can make.”

Another major plank in Lemieux’s platform includes, as a father of five children, offering tax credits that will benefit hardworking parents.

“Trudeau offers that, but he has raised taxes on 80 per cent of Canadians,” he said. “In other words, and Liberals love to do this, they love to raise taxes on Canadians, and they give a little bit back as a tax credit and say, ‘see, we’re lowering taxes.’ But, meanwhile, what they don’t advertise is that they’ve raised taxes on 80 per cent of Canadians in the middle class, who they claim they are helping.”

Lemieux believes that, in the end, under the Liberal government, Canadians’ taxes will be so severe that they will continue to have less and less money. “It’s fine for them to say that we’re going to offer you a 10 per cent reduction but they’re going to charge you more through your carbon tax, for example,” he said. “They’re going to charge you more through your income tax and they must through their overspending. In the last four years, [the Liberals] were supposed to deliver a balanced budget and instead racked up $71-billion in new deficits; someone has to pay for that and it’s not possible.”

Another important plank on Lemieux’s platform was agriculture, a vital business in the country landscape of Glengarry, Prescott and Russell.

“Our policy is to protect supply management,” he said. “I’ve been working very closely with farmers in the lead up to this election and during and I’ve got to tell you, farmers are not happy.”

According to Lemieux, most of this comes from the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) because this agreement is only half of what the original deal was, and how the Prime Minister handled the deal.

“In other words, it’s a worse deal than what we originally had,” he said. “And to get the worst deal, Justin Trudeau sacrificed them. It wasn’t a better deal for Canada, it was a worse deal and all of a sudden, [farmers’] best interests have been sacrificed by the Liberals.”

Lemieux states that farmers are feeling betrayed, on more than one front. Farmers work very hard to work on the exportation of milk products but a lot of that has been put under U.S. control, with accesses of 3.59 per cent granted to the United States.

“In other words, Canada and Trudeau agreed to cut into the exportation of our protein concentrates,” said Lemieux. “He’s also given the U.S. oversight over the administration of our dairy system.”

Lemieux will be running against Jean-Jacques Desgranges (People’s Party of Canada), Darcy Neal Donnelly (Libertarian Party of Canada), Francis Drouin (Liberal party of Canada), Daniel John Fey (Independent), Marc-Antoine Gagnier (Parti Rhinocéros Party), Marthe Lépine (Green party of Canada) and Konstantine Malakos (New Democratic Party) in the upcoming federal election. You can cast your vote Mon., Oct. 21.