Conservative Party Leadership | The game is far from over, says Jean Charest

Less than 25% of members voted in the Conservative race

Joel-Denis Bellavance
The Press

(Ottawa) Jean Charest persists and signs: the stakes are far from over in the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), even if several observers believe that it would take a perfect alignment of the stars for him to beat MP Pierre Poilievre at the finish line on September 10.

As proof, argued the former Premier of Quebec, less than 25% of the 670,000 members have so far exercised their right to vote (about 150,000). He intends to take advantage of the next four weeks to plead his cause with those who have not yet voted by defending that he is best placed to lead the Conservatives to victory in the next election against the Liberals of Justin Trudeau.

In the immediate future, Mr. Charest and his team plan to increase their meetings with the organizers of the campaign of the mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown, who was disqualified from the race last month, in order to ensure their support and coordinate their efforts to “get the vote out”. Such a meeting took place on Thursday evening.

Left out of the race after a campaign employee accused him of circumventing Elections Canada funding rules, Patrick Brown formally endorsed Jean Charest and invited his supporters to do the same.

” Nothing is decided. 75% of members have not yet voted. Everything will be played on the exit of the vote. Everything, everything depends on it. It’s a system of 100 points per constituency,” analyzed Mr. Charest.

The day after the third debate organized by the party, in which Mr. Poilievre refused to participate on the grounds that he had already presented his ideas during the previous debates, Mr. Charest again denounced this gesture of “contempt” towards party members. .

“Mr. Poilievre was in Saskatchewan the night of the debate, of course because he wants us to win more [circonscriptions] in this province. But it’s impossible. The Conservative Party already holds the 14 [circonscriptions]. We should have told Mr. Poilievre before he went there. It is in Ontario that we must win seats, and in Quebec as well. Pierre, light up, a little! “, quipped Mr. Charest.

In an interview, Mr. Charest said he did not want to speculate on his future if Pierre Poilievre wins, saying he is at the heart of a tough battle that is entering a decisive phase.

Uncertain future

During Wednesday evening’s debate, Mr. Charest was questioned three times by MP Scott Aitchison about his intentions if he does not win. Mr. Charest dodged questions on this subject.

“You always ask these kinds of questions because you are watching the game. But I’m like a boxer who’s entered in a 15 round match, and in the 12^e round, Joël-Denis Bellavance takes me aside and asks me: “What are you going to do afterwards if you don’t win?” My answer is simple: “I’m like a little bit busy. I’m in the middle of the battle, and the only possibility for me is to win the match! So I’m not going to start speculating on anything other than a win. It’s as simple as that,’” he said.

Mr. Charest also made a point of recalling that he had always been underestimated during his political career and that he will be able to confuse the skeptics again.

“It doesn’t bother me. I have always played it to my advantage. It happened in the 1998 elections, in 2003 too. In 2002, it was said that Mario Dumont was going to become Premier of Quebec and that it was clear that I was not going to win. In February 2003, there was a poll where I came third. However, I became prime minister a few months later,” he recalled.

He also pointed out that the leader of the last two Conservative Party leadership races bit the dust on D-Day.

Mr. Charest criticized Pierre Poilievre on several occasions for leading a negative American-style campaign by indulging in personal attacks of rare virulence against him and the other candidates. But he told host Karl Bélanger of the Outaouais radio station 104.7 that he could still appoint him minister in a future Charest government.