‘Tone of corruption’: O’Toole, Singh take aim at Trudeau over throne speech

Party leaders sounded like they were still on the campaign trail Tuesday as they delivered speeches in response to last week's throne speech.

Party leaders sounded like they were still on the campaign trail Tuesday as they delivered speeches in response to last week’s throne speech.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took turns pointing out the Canadians they said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ignoring as he embarks on his third mandate.

But Trudeau hit back in his own speech later Tuesday, repeatedly needling O’Toole over his lack of leadership and his refusal to insist that all Conservative MPs be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Speaking in the House of Commons, O’Toole and Singh presented themselves as the voices for those who they said have been forgotten by Trudeau’s government.

O’Toole accused the Liberals of fuelling inflation with reckless spending during the pandemic. He suggested Trudeau doesn’t understand the pressures average Canadians are under as the price of “everything” goes up because “he’s never had to face pressures in his life.”

He accused Trudeau of setting “a tone of corruption” from the moment he took office in 2015 and of presiding over the “steepest decline in Canada-U.S. relations in the modern era” _ pointing to a series of trade disputes, including last week’s doubling of American duties on Canadian softwood lumber.

And he asserted that Trudeau wants Canadians to be “ashamed” of their identity and culture.

“He wants Canadians to live in shame, he wants them to be ashamed of their past, ashamed of their identity, ashamed of their culture,” O’Toole charged.