Election 2025: Campaign Roundup - Day 23

Welcome to Day 23 of Canada Minute’s 2025 Campaign Roundup!

With the 2025 Canadian federal election now finally underway, we'll be bringing you daily updates on all the policy proclamations, platform promises, and political point-scoring from the campaign trail.

Campaign Roundup - Day 23:

• Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has announced plans to invoke the notwithstanding clause to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences for multiple murders, countering a 2022 Supreme Court decision that struck down similar sentencing provisions. He argues that this step is necessary to ensure that severe crimes receive appropriate punishment, while critics warn it undermines the Charter of Rights and fundamental freedoms.
  
  
• Liberal Leader Mark Carney has pledged to overhaul Canada’s defence procurement system by creating a dedicated agency to streamline military purchases and reduce red tape, while also boosting domestic research in advanced technologies like AI and cybersecurity. He said these changes would help Canada meet its NATO spending targets.
  
  
• On Tout le monde en parle, Carney and Poilievre made their case to Quebec voters, with Carney defending his cultural awareness and language skills, and Poilievre rejecting comparisons to Donald Trump. Carney emphasized past economic collaboration with Quebec and support for challenging controversial provincial laws, while Poilievre highlighted his modest roots and differentiated himself from Trump’s persona.
  
  
• NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pledged to hire 35,000 nurses by 2030, improve working conditions, and ensure better nurse-to-patient ratios as part of a plan to strengthen Canada’s public health-care system. He criticized the growing use of private nursing agencies and promised to tie federal health funding to hiring and retention strategies.
  
  
• The Leaders' Debates Commission is defending its decision to invite Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault to this week's debates, despite the party failing to meet the Commission's own criteria. The Commission had previously announced that parties must meet two of three criteria: having a sitting MP elected for that party, polling above 4%, or running candidates in 90% of ridings. The Greens were invited based on having a sitting MP and telling the Commission they had a full slate of candidates, but once the deadline to register candidates passed, it was revealed that the Greens actually only had candidates in about two thirds of the ridings. It's not clear why the party is being allowed to get away with essentially lying to get into the debate, however. Isn’t the Commission supposed to be neutral?