According to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Liberal or NDP government in power will hit Canadians hard in the wallet.
Harper spoke to a group of several hundred at the Cascade Aerospace building in Abbotsford on Sunday at a Conservative rally to conclude his re-election campaign.
“We know what the Liberals want to do and what they always do,” he said. “They get in there, go on a spending spree, reward bureaucracy and their friends – that is not the kind of Canada we’ve been building with our economic action plan.”
Harper spoke for close to 20 minutes, focusing on the money he said will come out of Canadians’ pockets if the Liberals or NDP get voted into power.
“There is an economic risk related to a Liberal or NDP government,” he said. “They talk precious little about the contents of their platform because at its heart is out of control spending. In their hearts, they think Canadians should pay more taxes – you make it, they’ll take it and they’ll spend it.”
At one point, he brought up Abbotsford MP Ed Fast’s daughter Sonja Fast Hindmarsh to showcase the cuts that he said a Liberal government will make directly from Canadian families.
He said a Liberal government will take away money via an increase in payroll taxes, income-splitting measures and several other methods. Fast Hindmarsh paid the money out of her pocket as a cash register sound played to get the point across.
“That’s not change, that’s real money,” Harper said of the potential tax hikes.
The event kicked off with a welcome from MP for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam and Minister of Industry James Moore, who introduced Fast. Several other Conservative candidates were in attendance, including Brad Vis, Diane Watts, Mike Murray, Alice Wong and Wai Young.
Fast, who has worked for Harper for 10 years, said the Conservative party is the right choice on Monday.
“We live in a dangerous and uncertain world,” he said. “We have to decide which government we can trust to keep us safe from crime and the rising threat of terrorism. Stephen Harper has kept Canadians safe from crime and terrorism, has created new jobs, kept taxes low and balanced the budget.”
Polls for the federal election open at 7 a.m. on Monday and remain open until 7 p.m.
