In his closing pitch, Poilievre paints a dark picture of Canada if Liberals are re-elected

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre painted a gloomy picture of Canada in his closing pitch to voters on Thursday, saying life will get worse if they return a Liberal government in this election.

After sounding a more optimistic and hopeful tone earlier this week around the release of his party's platform, Poilievre reverted to form at a news conference in Halifax. He said the country will face nothing but "despair" if Liberal Leader Mark Carney is the next prime minister — signalling he will go negative with his messaging in the final days to try and keep his opponent out of power.

Pointing to a government research report published earlier this year that laid out a hypothetical future Canada with significantly deteriorated living standards, Poilievre urged voters to turn their backs on the Liberals and give his party a chance — describing the alternative in dark terms.

"The trajectory we are on after this lost Liberal decade, were it to continue, would lead to more despair, more inflation and higher costs," Poilievre said.

"People need to know the terrifying picture that a fourth Liberal term will paint, with higher costs, of raging crime, of more despair," he said.

Poilievre said many people in Canada already feel desperate, unable to afford a home or buy a car after a decade under the federal Liberals, and claimed Carney "doesn't care if your family has to choose between owning a home or a working car."

"We've seen a rapid decline over the last decade in our quality of life," he said.

Carney has pushed back against Conservative claims that he's "just like Justin," acknowledging throughout this campaign that the last Liberal government bungled some files and he will be laser-focused on building "the strongest economy in the G7," if elected.

Poilievre adds rally in home riding

It's a Liberal message that is resonating with some voters, as the Conservative campaign pushes back against reports that Poilievre is facing a possible loss in his long-held Ottawa-area riding of Carleton.

The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star reported Wednesday the party is deploying a team of staffers into the riding to help Poilievre win a race that some Ontario Progressive Conservative Party insiders say could be closer than expected.

A Conservative source told CBC News it's not true that the campaign is in panic mode over what's transpiring in Carleton. The source says the party is confident Poilievre will take the seat, as he has in the past seven elections over his more than two decades in Parliament.

The source said the party has also deployed more campaign workers into Liberal Leader Mark Carney's neighbouring riding of Nepean and into the Kanata riding in the city's west end — trying to hold seats and make ground in others.

"We're not on defence in Ottawa, we're on offence," said the source, speaking on background.

While denying there's a problem in Poilievre's riding, the party added a rally there to his schedule for Sunday night — what's likely to be his last campaign event before election day.

Still, in the 30-minute news conference in Halifax Thursday, Poilievre mentioned the word "change" some 55 times as he pushes to get voters to turf the Liberals.

Poilievre's proposed change Thursday was a promise to scrap the electric vehicle (EV) mandate, if elected, vowing to dismantle a key piece of the last Liberal government's climate agenda.

During his tenure, former prime minister Justin Trudeau decreed that all new cars sold in Canada by 2035 should be zero-emission. Poilievre said he doesn't support forcing people to buy cars they don't necessarily want.

It's a commitment that U.S. President Donald Trump has also made in the name of protecting access to gas-powered vehicles.

"Conservatives will put you back in the driver's seat for a change," Poilievre said. "No more Carney quotas, no more Liberal bans on cars Canadians want to drive."