NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh responds to questions during a news conference in Ottawa, on Thursday, October 10, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

The NDP shot out a blistering denial today after Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer came out with an unexpected claim that New Democrats and a Liberal minority government would hike the federal goods and service tax.

“That’s a lie,” the NDP said in a campaign email to news media less than 40 minutes after Scheer made the claim in one of his final stops in Atlantic Canada before the federal election Monday.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau also denied the claim, calling it “entirely untrue.”

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The claim by Scheer came out of left field as he met reporters standing in front of supporters and a half-dozen Conservative candidates in Fredericton, N.B. The crowd included three former MPs from Stephen Harper’s government who are trying for re-election following the sweeping Liberal win in the Atlantic region in 2015.

“Today, Andrew Scheer claimed without evidence that the NDP would work with the Liberals to raise the GST,” the NDP alert said. “That’s a lie.”

Scheer was unclear about the reason for his suspicion during questions from journalists.

Singh, despite his back and forth for the past week over the possibility of supporting the Liberals in a coalition government, took a shot at Conservative support for new tax incentives during debate over a fall economic statement by the government last year.

“Andrew Scheer and Justin Trudeau both back $14 billion in corporate tax breaks,” the NDP said today.

The party statement said Scheer was “right about one thing; investments like pharmacare and housing need to be paid for, so here’s the real tax agenda.”

The NDP retort to Scheer cited a wealth tax on fortunes over $20 million as an urgent priority for the New Democrats in the next Parliament. The NDP quoted a Parliamentary Budget Office prediction that the tax would raise $5.6 billion in its first year.

Trudeau reiterated that a Conservative plan for a balanced budget in five years would result in severe government spending cuts, such as its promise to slash foreign aid by 25 per cent.

“It’s unfortunate that the Conservatives keep having to make up attacks against us, but all they’re offering is cuts. Perhaps that’s all they can do, is make things up,” Trudeau said at a campaign appearance in Whitby, Ont.

Trudeau was giving last-minute support to Liberal candidate Ryan Turnbull. The rookie candidate won his nomination after the electoral district’s former Liberal MP, Celina Caesar-Chavannes, decided not to run for re-election in the aftermath of the SNC Lavalin affair last winter.

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