Party leaders make closing arguments, take heat over misinformation in lead up to election day

NEW BRUNSWICK – Party leaders are making their final pitches with the federal election on Monday, but one of them is getting heat over misinformation.

In the final countdown of this campaign, Conservative Andrew Scheer is appealing to voters to hand him a majority government, as the polls show a dead heat between the Tories and the Liberals.

However, his event in New Brunswick grew rowdy as Scheer claimed the Liberals and the NDP would raise the GST — something no one is promising in this campaign.

“We’ve looked at the Trudeau and NDP platforms, and a coalition of the two would run a deficit of $40 billion next year alone,” he said. “To pay for even half of these never ending deficits, the Trudeau-NDP coalition would have to raise the GST from five per cent to 7.5 per cent, or cut completely the Canada Social Transfer to the provinces.”

Without any evidence, Conservative Leader @AndrewScheer suggests the Liberals and NDP would raise the GST. No party in #elxn43 has pitched this idea at all. Scheer did not offer proof that this would happen, just says Trudeau can't be trusted #cdnpoli

— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) October 18, 2019

Scheer offered no solid evidence for his claim, and supporters booed a reporter who asked about it.

“We are showing Canadians the types of consequences that they will face with an NDP-Liberal coalition,” Scheer responded after he was asked whether he was misleading people, and where the information came from. “It is quite clear that that is what they are contemplating.”

Another incident of supporters booing a reporter for asking a question. @mikelecouteur was asking why @AndrewScheer would spread misinformation since neither the Liberals nor the NDP have said they would raise the GST #cdnpoli #elxn43

— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) October 18, 2019

Scheer has denied that he is conducting a misinformation campaign.

“It’s not misinformation at all,” he said. “We know that the Liberals are contemplating these types of things, the Liberal member of parliement, star member of parliament, leading member of parliament from the Liberal benches, Adam Vaughan, was pushing for these types of policies.”

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has denied Scheer’s claim, calling it “completely untrue.” Trudeau accused the Conservatives of making things up to distract from the party’s planned cuts.

.@AndrewScheer has recently said a Liberal government or coalition NDP/Liberal would raise taxes. Today Trudeau is calling Scheer’s claim an outright lie. @CityNews pic.twitter.com/g01iSQUg0v

— Adrian Ghobrial (@AdrianGhobrial) October 18, 2019

The Tory leader was in Fredericton before heading to a campaign stop in Quebec this morning, in the riding held by his former leadership rival, Maxime Bernier, who is running as leader of the People’s Party of Canada.

Bernier, who just barely lost the Conservative leadership to Scheer before quitting and starting his own party, will make his first public appearance outside his home riding in days, at an afternoon news conference in Quebec City.

Meanwhile, Trudeau focused on the battleground of Toronto, touring communities in the Greater Toronto Area, while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Leader Elizabeth May spend the day in B.C.

Singh encouraged progressive voters not to fall for what he said are Liberal scare tactics, and to instead cast their ballots for the NDP with confidence.

The Liberals have spent much of the federal election campaign warning Canadians against voting for the NDP or Greens, arguing that to do so would split the progressive vote and let the Conservatives take power.

Opinion polls have suggested many progressive voters remain undecided with only days left until election day on Oct. 21.

Singh pushed back against the Liberals while campaigning on Vancouver Island, where New Democrats hold most of the seats and remain popular. A recent poll by Insights West suggests support for the NDP is growing around B.C., especially on the Island.

The NDP leader said unlike the Greens, the NDP would not work with a Conservative minority government under any circumstances.

The Greens’ May, who is also on Vancouver Island today, is set to announce her party’s affordability plans in Saanich. In a release, the Green Party said it would restructure Canada’s global trade relations to address climate change and promote human rights if elected Monday.

It said increased international trade is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The restructuring would include reducing the distances over which food is shipped by increasing domestic and local food production.

Seat projections show Canada is likely heading to a minority government, but anything can happen at the ballot box.