Closer look into statements made by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre

Federal Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, was in Hamilton over the weekend and at one point he was here at our CHCH studio speaking with Adam Atkinson.

WATCH: Exclusive TV interview with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre

Poilievre kicked off his sit-down interview with Atkinson by speaking on Canadians’ wallets, “40-year highs in inflation,” a statement that is lockstep with what happened back in 1983 when inflation was 5.86 per cent. It is at 5.9 per cent in 2023.

Poilievre then tackled another hot topic amongst voters, housing, “right now, we have the fewest houses per capita of any country in the G7, and that’s why we have such incredibly high house prices.” According to a recent report by Scotiabank, Canada does rank dead last amongst G7 countries when it comes to houses per 1,000 people.

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The next top of conversation was the government’s handling of your tax dollars. Poilievre says, “cancel the outrageous waste in the Trudeau government. You know, he’s spending $21 billion a year on high-priced consultants. That’s $1,400 dollars for every Hamilton family.” Research done at CHCH couldn’t reach that total but came close to about $17 billion spent on private consultants this past year.

The opposition leader doubled down on prime minister Trudeau’s spending, specifically on the ArriveCan app that was originally budgeted at $80,000. Poilievre says, “ArriveCan app, $54 million down the drain for absolutely nothing.”

The Canadian Border Services Agency confirms that figure which includes $4.9 million associated with employee benefits and accommodations.

As for the fight against illicit drugs, Poilievre says, “…the problem is that after eight years of Justin Trudeau, we’ve had 30,000 people die of overdoses. His policies have failed. Six dying every single day in B.C. from overdoses.”

On its website, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Abuse states that between January 2016 and March 2022, 30,843 people have been lost due to opioid-related overdoses.

The Vancouver-based union gospel mission reports that on average six people die from overdoses every day in British Columbia.