Neither of Greater Sudbury’s two MPs subscribe to the notion that Liberals are essentially Conservatives now, but both maintain the party has shifted politically.
The news cycle in recent months has been peppered with reports regarding a shift in Liberal policy.
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre called Liberals ‘counterfeit’ Conservatives, and past NDP leader Tom Mulcair contended that Liberals aren’t to be trusted.
Liberals “flash left and turn right,” he wrote in an opinion piece, concluding that the NDP’s role will be keeping the Liberals from becoming Conservatives, which he called “a tough battle.”
Some points of evidence the Liberals have shifted to the right, according to Poilievre and Mulcair, has come in the form of then-Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault resigning from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet over what he described as the dismantling of climate policies. This included the Liberals pausing an electric vehicle mandate, which the Conservatives pushed for, and expressing pipeline support.
Under Carney, the consumer carbon tax was repealed, following months of Poilievre pledging to “axe the tax” if elected. The Liberals moved to restore some mandatory minimum sentences (a Poilievre slogan was “Jail not Bail” and several mandatory minimums had been repealed under former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau). As well, Carney committed to a significant jump in military spending, which Conservatives asked for.
While various political leaders and talking heads in the national media have weighed in on a perceived shift in the governing Liberal Party of Canada under Carney, Sudbury.com sought insight from Greater Sudbury’s two MPs.
These include Sudbury Liberal MP Viviane Lapointe and Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt Conservative MP Jim Bélanger.
When it comes to the political left and right, Lapointe said she spends “little time on that type of political congesture.”
“Where I do spend my time, and certainly my focus, is ensuring our party is delivering on the needs of Canadians,” she said.
Carney, she said, often talks about “meeting the moment,” which translates to “protecting our Canadian way of life, and that means protecting our sovereignty, our jobs and our economy.”
Canadian politics shifted as a result of the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, she said, which has realigned federal priorities.
“We’ve seen our prime minister have a laser focus on Canada's economy, and it’s very necessary, especially when I’ve talked about some of the programs, the social programs, that were included and preserved in Budget 2025,” Lapointe said., pointing to such things as the Canadian Dental Care Plan and proceeding with a national pharmacare program.
“If we don’t grow our economy, those programs are going to be under threat, and Canadians’ jobs, whether you have a job and are trying to protect that job or trying to enter the job market.”
As for the notion shared by some that Liberals have lost sight of environmental goals due to such things as repealing the consumer carbon tax, pausing the electric vehicle mandate and signing a memorandum of understanding for a pipeline through Western Canada, Lapointe echoed Carney by saying, “climate action is an economic necessity.”
“We’ve demonstrated that we do have a climate strategy and that it is a key component and it is an economic necessity, especially when you’re dealing with most of the countries that look for those types of policies in a country,” she said.
Between $93 billion in incentives by 2035 to promote clean growth, strengthening industrial carbon pricing and Canada’s new Climate Competitiveness Strategy, she contends that addressing climate change is still a priority for the Liberals.
Bélanger’s take is that the Liberals are shifting to the centre after spending a decade veering to the left.
“They’re looking at our policy platform and using them as talking points, making some announcements, but really nothing happening,” he said, clarifying, “They’re not quite using our full policy platform.”
While the Liberals inch to the right, Bélanger said the steps they’re taking fall short of what the Conservatives would have done if elected.
“A lot of the same MPs are still there from the Trudeau government,” he said.
Where the Liberals are offering GST relief for first-time home buyers, Bélanger said the Conservatives would offer relief for all home buyers.
Meanwhile, the Liberals’ work toward getting pipelines in the ground seems like “more red tape and delays,” where the Conservatives would take such actions as repealing Bill C-69. Where the Liberals have repealed the consumer carbon tax, the Conservatives would have also done away with industrial carbon pricing.
The Liberals’ new mandatory minimums also fall well short of the Conservatives’ Jail not Bail Act, Bélanger said.
Though they took different paths to get to their shared conclusion, both Lapointe and Bélanger maintain the Liberals and Conservatives remain very different political parties under Carney.
Lapointe was first elected under Trudeau in 2021 and comfortably retained her seat with more than half of the vote in last year’s federal election under Carney. In early 2025, Lapointe threw her support behind Carney, who was in a leadership race at the time.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.