Singh goes after rivals over plans to cancel Liberal capital gains tax increase

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks to health-care workers during a federal election campaign event in Toronto on Monday, April 14, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh criticized both the Liberals and Conservatives Tuesday over their plans to scrap the capital gains tax increase introduced in the last federal budget.

At a campaign stop in Montreal, Singh said this decision means the federal government loses $19 billion over the next five years, money it could use to pay for things like hiring more doctors and expanding pharmacare.

“The entire Liberal party was in favour of it, was defending it, said it was a great thing to do, and then all of a sudden flip-flopped on it,” Singh said outside a hospital.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney has said he will do away with the planned increase to taxes paid on capital gains over $250,000 to encourage more business investment to counter the effect of U.S. tariffs.

Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, who introduced federal budget a year ago that included the capital gains tax increase, promised to scrap that policy during her own Liberal leadership bid.

The NDP is rolling out past Liberal comments defending the capital gains tax increase — including one from Freeland, who said the change was about “fairness.”

“We know that the fair way, the responsible way to pay for those investments is to ask those at the top to contribute a little bit more,” Freeland told a June 10, 2024 press conference on the capital gains tax.

“(The Liberals) said specifically that mostly people who earn $1.4 million a year are the ones that benefit from this tax measure. And so why would we, in a time of so much uncertainty, give a massive tax break of $19 billion?” Singh said.

“Instead, I believe we need to invest in people and not cut services for people.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not support the Liberal capital gains tax move last year and in January pledged to reverse it. He said earlier in the campaign that a Conservative government would make it so people would not pay capital-gains tax on any investment income that is reinvested in a Canadian business.

To rein in the federal budget, Singh said he would end “wasteful” spending on things like fossil fuel subsidies. He said the capital gains tax measure and the elimination of tax loopholes could generate billions of dollars for Ottawa.

Singh said he plans to release his party’s costed platform “as soon as possible.”

The NDP shifted its primary campaign message last week, as polls made it clear the NDP are not in the running for first place in this campaign.

Singh has been saying lately that Ottawa works best when one party doesn’t hold all the power — suggesting a desire for another minority government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2025.