Poilievre takes aim at high cost of living, DFO policy during Yarmouth visit

For the second time in 18 months, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made a pit stop in Yarmouth, N.S.

At a rally held at a Main Street hotel on Tuesday, Poilievre spoke to a packed room and lashed out at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government, with an emphasis on the cost of living, fisheries and crime rates.

He blamed 10 years of Liberal rule for high grocery prices and criticized Fisheries Department policy, taking aim at “badly thought-out quotas” and how the department has handled a dispute with Indigenous fishers over their treaty right to hunt and fish for a moderate livelihood.

The last time Poilievre was in Yarmouth was in August 2024, when he spoke at an event at the Yarmouth airport as then Conservative MP Chris d'Entremont stood behind him.

This time around, he didn’t have any kind words for the local MP, who crossed the floor to join the Liberals in November, saying he no longer felt represented in Poilievre's party.

Though he didn’t name d'Entremont explicitly, Poilievre did reference the MP for Acadie-Annapolis by reading a September quote from someone criticizing Carney’s Liberals for an “unacceptable” rise in food prices, before revealing the source was “the Liberal MP for this very constituency … now supporting the same food prices and high costs.”

• More stories from Digby-Yarmouth-Shelburne

Ahead of the rally, d'Entremont told CBC News he expected to be attacked. 

“I think it’s going to be negative, and I think it’s going to be a rallying cry to try and make sure that they hold me back from trying to do the job I need to do for southwest Nova Scotia,” he said. 

“But I hope there will be people listening [who] take it for what it’s worth, that it’s political crap rather than true leadership,” he said.

Poilievre’s visit comes ahead of a vote at the Conservative Party’s convention later this month to determine if he will stay on as leader.

MORE TOP STORIES