In the cut and thrust of an election debate, it’s not uncommon for a political party leader to get a number or a fact wrong. But sometimes they repeat those erroneous statements — both on the campaign trail and the debate stage.
The CBC News fact-checking team looked into some of the inaccurate claims that leaders have made more than once in this campaign.
Bill C-69
The claim: On X and during both the French- and English-language debates, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that Bill C-69 blocked 16 projects and billions of dollars of investment.
The facts: Bill C-69, which allowed the federal government to look at how resource development projects could impact climate change, was adopted in 2019. However, many of the projects Poilievre cites were cancelled prior to that or were axed by provincial governments. For example, the Dunkirk and Muskwa oilsands projects he cited in his tweet were cancelled in 2016. And the federal cabinet rejected the Northern Gateway pipeline in 2016 while the Energie Saguenay LNG project was rejected by the Quebec government in 2021 before it was rejected by Ottawa the following year.
In some cases, such as the Energy East pipeline, companies concluded projects were no longer viable because economic conditions had changed.
In the end, projects are assessed according to the rules in place when companies applied for permission, which in some cases was years before C-69 was adopted, and they would have been judged under the pre-existing rules.
2008 financial crisis
The claim: During the Liberal leadership campaign, the English debate and speaking to reporters on April 3, Liberal Leader Mark Carney touted his role as governor of the Bank of Canada in helping manage Canada’s economy through the 2008 financial crisis.
“It is usually the case that when the United States has a recession, it is very difficult for Canada to avoid something similar,” Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill. “There’s been exceptions to that … when I was governor, we avoided a recession.”
The Facts: While Canada did fare better than the United States during the 2008-09 financial crisis, it did not escape unscathed. According to Statistics Canada, Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) dropped for three consecutive quarters during that period — while just two consecutive quarters constitutes a recession.
In a December 2008 Canadian Press story, Carney said Canada had entered a recession. Testifying before the House of Commons finance committee in February 2009 while he headed the Bank of Canada, Carney said the same.
“The global downturn and the declining demand for our exports will make this a very difficult year for Canada’s economy,” Carney told members of Parliament. “We are now in recession, with GDP projected to fall by 1.2 per cent this year.”
Homes created under Poilievre’s watch
The claims: In both debates, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said that Poilievre had only built six homes when he was housing minister in 2015. Poilievre responded that 200,000 homes were built while he was minister.
The facts: The NDP has been making this claim for at least two years. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) did in fact build six non-profit or community housing units when Poilievre was the minister responsible for it. However, that doesn’t include the 3,742 non-profit homes and 506 co-ops that were built through partnerships with private companies.
Overall, according to Statistics Canada, there were 195,535 homes build in Canada in 2015 but most of them were built by private companies — not the federal government.
Pipelines
The claim: In both debates, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet accused Carney of saying one thing in Quebec and another thing in the rest of Canada when it comes to pipelines.
“You said in February you would force oil and gas pipelines through Quebec whether we wanted it or not. You would use emergency powers in order to do so. And two days later in Montreal, you said you would never do that without the approval of Quebec,” Blanchet said.
The facts: Carney’s message on pipelines has shifted at various times but he did not say that he would force pipelines through Quebec against its will.
In a speech in February in British Columbia, Carney said he would use federal government powers to build a trade corridor, clean energy projects and energy infrastructure.
“Something that my government will do is use all of the powers of the federal government, including the emergency powers of the federal government to accelerate the major projects that we need in order to build this economy and take on the Americans,” he said.
He then told CBC News that he would accelerate pipeline approvals in consultation with provinces and First Nations. A few days later, he told Radio-Canada that he would never impose a pipeline on Quebec.
By April, when he appeared on the popular Radio-Canada television show Tout le monde en parle, he was even less categorical.
“We are in a crisis, we must act,” he told the show. “We must choose a few projects, a few big projects. Not necessarily pipelines, but maybe pipelines, we’ll see.”
He has also said that pipelines would need social acceptance.
Aluminum
The claim: Blanchet complained during the debates that the Liberal government has not levied reciprocal tariffs on the U.S. on aluminum and has done nothing to help aluminum industry workers.
The facts: The Canadian government has announced 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs. However, it has yet to announce specific measures for Quebec’s aluminum industry.
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