ANALYSIS: Pierre Poilievre would axe one of Parliament’s primary purposes

The Conservative leader promised that any future taxes or tax increases would be put to a national referendum, eliminating one of Parliament’s primary jobs.

Tucked away amid a host pledges in the Conservative platform is a promise to axe one of Parliament’s primary purposes.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced Tuesday that under his government a referendum, not politicians, would decide if Canada needed to raise taxes. Poilievre would “ban” any new taxes or tax increases unless the Canadian public votes for them.

The platform commitment is in keeping with Poilievre’s overall theme of tax relief for Canadians, requiring any new spending to be found through savings in other programs, and generally shrinking the size and cost of the federal government.

We can all probably guess the answer if the Canadian public were asked “do you want higher taxes,” and that answer can’t be published by a family-friendly news outlet.

But leaving aside such a referendum would almost certainly fail, Poilievre’s pledge also eliminates one of the House of Commons core responsibilities — to debate and vote on budgets and taxation.

It’s also, in a sense, performative. Any successive government could simply repeal the law and get on with their own agenda.

“One of the commitments the leader made is we would never hold a referendum because we’re never going to raise taxes if we’re elected,” said a Conservative campaign official, who agreed to speak to Global News as long as they weren’t named.

“It’s just a way to signal that we want to provide additional protection to taxpayers to ensure that it’s not going to be easy for a government to come along and raise their taxes.”