(Ottawa) If Pierre Poilievre becomes leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Joël Godin will think about his future as an MP within the party. As for Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais, he will tear up his membership card.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Joined before the holding of the third official debate of the Conservative leadership race, which will take place this Wednesday evening in an Ottawa studio, the two pro-Charest parliamentarians expressed their concern about the fate that awaits their party if Pierre Poilievre (who sulks this last oratorical joust) becomes the leader.
MP Joël Godin is the first (and the only one to date) of the 10 members of the Quebec Conservative Party deputies in the House of Commons to openly acknowledge that a victory for the MP for Carleton would lead him to weigh his options.
Of the options, he sees four available to him.
Either I resign as an MP, or I join another party that sits in the House of Commons, or I sit as an independent, or I participate in the creation of another party.
Joël Godin, Member of the Conservative Party of Canada
Because he was bitterly disappointed with what he has seen in recent months: “I have never seen such an aggressive and vicious race in personal attacks”, regrets in an interview the one who is MP for Portneuf- Jacques Cartier since 2015.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Conservative MP Joël Godin
With the exception of Pierre Paul-Hus, Luc Berthold and Jacques Gourde, all of Quebec’s elected officials in Ottawa have set their sights on the former premier of Quebec.
The first supports Pierre Poilievre, and the second remains neutral because of his position as deputy leader. As for the third, he did not choose a favorite, in order to ensure that his private member’s bill, which aims to extend the number of weeks of eligibility for employment insurance benefits for Canadians with serious illnesses.
The other seven are all in the Charest camp.
Joël Godin displayed his colors. Same thing for Alain Rayes, who defended the candidate Poilievre and his entourage, taxing the campaign they lead as “hateful”, among other less than complimentary epithets. What about the others? Only Dominique Vien responded to The Press.
“I am concentrating on the victory of Jean Charest, the only one capable of rallying all the Conservatives and attracting Canadians from other political backgrounds in order to win the next federal election”, argued in an email the one who was a member of his ministerial office in Quebec.
A card and a pair of scissors
Alarmed, Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais decided to take up his pen to write to party members. He does not beat around the bush: “The Conservative Party of Canada is playing nothing less than its future on the Canadian political spectrum, with the current leadership race,” he writes from the outset.
A victory for the incisive MP does not bode well for Canada either, insists the one who slammed the door of the Conservative Senate caucus in 2019.
France has Marine Le Pen, the United States has Donald Trump […] Is it really necessary to have Pierre Poilievre? That person can become prime minister.
Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais
He fears an “implosion” of the party in the event of Pierre Poilievre’s triumph, because there would then be “no place” for the progressive-conservatives. “Her base is in Alberta, and out west. We will go back to the old Reform Party on one side and the progressives on the other, ”he said on the phone.
PHOTO ARCHIVES PRESS
Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais
Senator Dagenais still holds a Conservative Party membership card. For now, anyway. “I’m not afraid to tell you that my membership card is on my desk…right next to a pair of scissors,” he concluded in the missive he wrote for members.
Harper, the “mother-in-law”
The two men deplore the intervention of Stephen Harper in the race. The former prime minister put aside his usual reserve by posting a video in support of Pierre Poilievre on social networks on July 25.
The esteem that Joël Godin had for his former boss suffered.
“I am very disappointed with his release. Me, the mother-in-law who goes out and comes to give advice… it’s no longer Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada! Let the members decide,” he says.
I had a lot of respect for Stephen Harper, an economist, and I find it hard to understand that he could support a candidate who wants to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada and base the economy on bitcoins.
Joël Godin, Member of the Conservative Party of Canada
The same disenchantment can be heard in the voice of Senator Dagenais: “Stephen Harper steered the ship for 10 years. If he doesn’t want to leave the helm to Jean Charest, he shouldn’t leave it to a sailor with an inordinate ego like Pierre Poilievre, because the ship is going to sink. »
The answer will come on September 10, with the announcement of the winner.
Those of Joël Godin and Jean-Guy Dagenais will follow.