(Ottawa) The “hate” and “anger” that Pierre Poilievre spreads in the context of the leadership race threaten “the party, the country, and the future of our children and grandchildren”, worries the conservative Alain Rayes, a pro-Charest.
Posted at 1:38 p.m.
The MP, who chairs Jean Charest’s campaign in Quebec, split a new open letter to express his fear of seeing the Conservative Party prolong the crossing of the desert that has endured since Justin Trudeau’s Liberals came to power. , in 2015.
“The fear I have seeing his way of doing American politics, with a Donald Trump attitude […]I see no possibility for our party to enlarge the Conservative tent by seeking votes elsewhere so that we can become a serious alternative to the Trudeau government, ”he fears.
“If we don’t enlarge the tent, we will become the NPD of the right”, expresses Alain Rayes.
This is because “support for Pierre Poilievre’s campaign is largely based on supporters of Maxime Bernier and the People’s Party of Canada”, and “this fringe of the electorate does not allow a federal party to gain power,” he wrote in a letter published Thursday in the daily newspapers of the Coops de l’information.
BLAIR GABLE PHOTO, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Pierre Poilievre
Listening to the hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska explain the reasons for his action on the other end of the line, we understand that it is not necessarily with lightheartedness that he publicly criticizes a wing of his own party.
“I have never fought against parts of my organization, and I feel left out of comments from other candidates who imply that I am not a true conservative when it is Stephen Harper himself who came to get me,” he insists on the other end of the line.
Speaking of the former Prime Minister: Alain Rayes mentions that the open letter was prepared before the public appearance of Stephen Harper, who gave his support to Pierre Poilievre. “I’ve been preparing for it for a week,” says the elected official, whom the former prime minister had convinced to jump into the federal political arena.
“I totally respect that. He has the right to his opinion, ”he drops.
“But I would have liked him to answer questions from journalists and say what he thinks of Pierre Poilievre’s campaign in relation to cryptocurrency, he who is a pro-economy, and the fact that Pierre Poilievre wants to interfere politically by firing the Governor of the Bank of Canada,” he continued.
Deputy Rayes did not want to address the question of his political future in the event of a victory of the candidate he is defending. “Honestly, I’m not there”, will repeat several times during the interview the one who says he has “fought as a progressive-conservative since 2015 to […] counterweight”.
A few polls conducted in recent weeks put Pierre Poilievre ahead. He enjoys the support of the vast majority of the Conservative deputies. They are 60 out of 119 to have given him their seal of approval.
The only Quebec MP who is in the Poilievre camp is Pierre Paul-Hus.
Towards a three-way debate on August 3?
If the trend continues, the third official debate of this leadership race will be a three-way one.
Already, Pierre Poilievre has indicated that he refuses to participate.
As for Leslyn Lewis, she warned the authorities of the party that she would not appear if the questions had to affect issues already addressed such as the carbon tax or the way to achieve a balanced budget. She insists that the questions be those “that conservatives ask themselves every day”, such as the link between Canada and the World Economic Forum or the World Health Organization.
The oratorical contest could therefore bring together only Jean Charest and two other candidates little known to the general public, namely Scott Aitchison, a Conservative MP, and Roman Baber, a former Progressive Conservative Party MP at Queen’s Park who had been excluded from the caucus of Doug Ford for criticizing pandemic lockdowns.
These two aspirants do not speak French. Jean Charest has called for a bilingual debate.
The next Conservative leader will be known on September 10.