Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh are on the campaign trail, proposing ideas on housing and crime as Liberal Leader Mark Carney deals with U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.
Trump says he had "an extremely productive call" Friday morning with Carney, adding that he and the prime minister can find common ground in fields like politics and business.
Carney will be virtually speaking midday with premiers, after Trump's threat to impose tariffs on automotive imports.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging to impose life sentences for what he calls large-scale instances of human trafficking, smuggling large numbers of guns or trafficking fentanyl.
He will hold a news conference in Nanaimo, B.C., and says in campaign video this morning that he wants to "ensure these monsters rot in jail forever."
In Toronto, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is promising new rules for corporate landlords and more help for non-profit groups, in order to address rising housing costs.
Singh says he would ban large, corporate landlords from engaging in what he calls "the predatory practice of buying up affordable homes," restricting them to groups like individuals and non-profits.
Trump signed an executive order earlier this week to implement 25 per cent levies on all automobile and auto part imports — his latest move to upend global trade through a massive tariff agenda that pushed some automakers' stock prices down on Thursday.
Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill Thursday that he was organizing the meeting with premiers and said the discussion — among others with business leaders, unions and Indigenous leaders — would help Canada have a single, co-ordinated response to Trump.
Recent polls suggest the top question Canadian voters are asking themselves in this election campaign is which leader is best able to fight for Canada's interests in the face of the Trump administration's constant economic threats.
— With files from David Baxter in Toronto and Catherine Morrison.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2025.
