Conservative leadership race | “A true leader never refuses to debate his ideas,” says Jean Charest

(Ottawa) Former Progressive Conservative leader and ex-Premier of Quebec Jean Charest criticized the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership race, Pierre Poilievre, on Wednesday afternoon for not being “ a true leader” since he refuses to participate in the last official debate of the chiefdom to take place a few hours later, at the beginning of the evening.

Posted at 4:30 p.m.

Michael Saba
The Canadian Press

“A true leader never refuses to debate his ideas, his proposals and his vision for the future of Canada. A true leader is interested in the substantive debate rather than attacking the integrity of his opponents. And a true leader never, ever, ever refuses an opportunity to compare his ideas to (those) of his opponents, ”said Mr. Charest in a video published in a “story” of the Facebook platform.

Jean Charest, who had previously called Mr. Poilievre’s decision an “act of cowardice”, called out to him to tell him that “it is not too late for you to show respect to the members of the party “.

Returning to the theme of freedom so dear to his opponent, Jean Charest implored the Ottawa-area MP to “liberate” himself from his organizers.

In the last few days, an advertisement from the Charest team only in English also referred to freedom by promoting the hashtag “#FreePierre”. The narrator told “Pierre” that it is known that debating is “not your strength” and that although recording videos – as he regularly does – is “much more fun, the camera […] does not ask follow-up questions”.

During Wednesday night’s debate, there will be no audience or podiums and only three of the five contenders will take part.

They are Jean Charest, a rural Ontario MP, Scott Aitchison, and Roman Baber, a former Progressive Conservative MP from Ontario whom Premier Doug Ford kicked out of caucus. for its opposition to certain measures related to COVID-19.

Rather than standing on individual podiums, the three candidates will be placed around a table for the event which will take place in Ottawa. It will be presented partly in the form of a debate and partly in a round table format.

Discussions will be moderated by the party president. The event will be split into two 45-minute rounds, with contestants answering questions in English during the first half before switching to French for the second half.

Jean Charest is perfectly bilingual. Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber have not yet demonstrated the ability to express themselves adequately in Canada’s two official languages.

Topics that should be covered include climate change, Indigenous peoples, leadership, health care and rural Canada.

The party’s decision to hold a third debate after holding two formal debates in May drew heavy criticism from some party members, including the two candidates who decided not to run, Pierre Poilievre and Leslyn Lewis.

Poilievre’s entourage released a statement saying the longtime MP, who is seen by many as the frontrunner in the race, would remain focused on getting members to cast their ballots.

The campaign of M.me Lewis meanwhile informed the party last week that she would not be participating in Wednesday’s debate, saying she lacked details on the format or the questions.

Under party rules, Pierre Poilievre and Leslyn Lewis are now at risk of being fined $50,000 for neglecting to participate in an official debate. The money will be taken from the $100,000 compliance deposit submitted by the candidates to participate in the race.

– With information from Stephanie Taylor


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