Pierre Poilievre doesn’t like being compared to Donald Trump. It’s true that the comparison is unfair… for Donald Trump!
Monday was the anniversary of Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on civilians in Israel. In the House of Commons, it was a solemn occasion to commemorate the unspeakable massacre of more than 1,200 people and the taking of hundreds of hostages.
Pierre Poilievre decided otherwise. He accused Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, of “pleasing Hamas sympathizers” within the Liberal Party!
Instead of thinking about the victims and their families, Poilievre was thinking about himself and his political games.
In doing so, he revealed himself to be completely unworthy of his office and disqualified himself as an aspiring Prime Minister of Canada.
Yes to debate, no to madness
There are few debates as divisive as the one surrounding the war between Israel and Hamas, and there is indeed room to criticize the positions of Trudeau and Joly.
Even within the government, we heard diametrically opposed things from Joly and the Minister of National Defense, Bill Blair, on the subject of a cease-fire. A sign of disarray and lack of principles.
I spoke with Joly in the wake of the Liberal government’s completely inscrutable reaction to South Africa’s unsupported accusation of genocide against Israel.
What she said to me stunned me: “Thomas, have you seen the demographics of my riding?” The minister was admitting that Canada’s position regarding a crisis that threatens world peace was influenced by her own local political considerations!
This is quite confusing in itself, but to assert, without proof, as Poilievre did, that she is aiming for the support of Hamas supporters for her leadership race (which does not even exist yet), This is so exaggerated that it completely distracts from the serious, substantive debate that needs to be had on the government’s positions on this existential issue for Israel.
An attack on our democracy
Poilievre is not new to his attacks on our democratic institutions.
The same day that Stephen Harper presented a formal apology in the House for residential schools, Poilievre insulted the First Nations. Even though the latter later apologized, Harper stuck him to the back seats with contact cement.
It was only years later that Harper finally let him join the Council of Ministers, as responsible for democratic institutions.
Polievre immediately began attacking these same democratic institutions by proposing “reforms” that would have had the effect of compromising the voting rights of the poorest Canadians.
It was so grotesque that Harper refused to proceed.
That’s the Pierre Poilievre we saw at work again this week, and it’s a good thing that a vast majority of Quebecers don’t want to know anything about him, if we rely on the most recent survey Light.