Liberal leadership candidate Gould wants to hike corporate taxes, slash GST

Liberal leadership candidate Karina Gould said Thursday that, in a race dominated by two heavyweight candidates, she’s trying to stand out from the pack with her ideas.

Gould said that if she becomes prime minister, she’ll lower the GST by a point to four per cent for a year to give struggling Canadians some tax relief. She said she believes the measure would cost about $11 billion.

On the revenue side, she also pledged to hike the corporate tax rate from 15 to 17 per cent for businesses making more than $500 million in profits annually.

She launched her fiscal planks at a campaign event at an independent Ottawa bookshop Thursday afternoon. Her pitch resembled some policy items from other parties’ playbooks — and even echoed NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s attacks on big grocers.

“When it comes to things like groceries, we see big companies who own too much of the market share increasing the price of groceries, bringing in shrinkflation, and honestly just making it harder for Canadians to get the very basics that they need,” Gould said. “I think it’s time that those very wealthy corporations pay their fair share.”

A Leger poll this week found former central banker Mark Carney — who is focusing his candidacy for the Liberal leadership on his economic credentials — is surging at 34 per cent support among Canadians, with former finance minister Chrystia Freeland in second place at 14 per cent.

Carney, who has racked up many high-profile cabinet and caucus endorsements, is polling at 57 per cent among Liberal voters, compared to Freeland at 17 per cent. 

Gould is sitting at four per cent among both Canadians in general, and Liberal voters in particular.

“We don’t need a coronation in the Liberal Party of Canada,” Gould said Thursday when asked about Carney’s polling lead. “What we need is a debate of ideas … That’s what members and Canadians deserve, and that’s why I’m here today making this important policy announcement.”

Leger reached 1,527 Canadian adults and 336 Liberal voters from Jan. 24 to 26. The poll does not come with a margin of error because it is an online survey.

Gould, who stepped down as government House leader to run for the leadership, is one of six candidates vying to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a vote that will conclude on March 9.

Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste and former MPs Ruby Dhalla and Frank Baylis are also competing in the race.

Baylis, a Montreal businessman, will kick off his campaign at an event in that city Thursday night.

Dhalla has pledged to deport illegal immigrants living in Canada. Gould said the race shouldn’t be about “scapegoating on vulnerable people in our country.”

The Liberal party is working to organize two debates — not the four that Freeland has called for.

“The party will host one French and one English debate,” said Liberal party spokesperson Parker Lund. “While details and dates are still being finalized, both will take place after Feb. 17.”

That’s the due date for the candidates to pay the final $125,000 instalment to cover the $350,000 entrance fee.