The new interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Candice Bergen, wanted to present a more conciliatory face the day after her election. But his public support for the truck convoy occupying downtown Ottawa and that of members of his caucus quickly caught up with the Conservatives.
The tone was calm, the words deliberate, for Chief Bergen’s first question period. The interim successor to Erin O’Toole – who was dismissed by his caucus on Wednesday – criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for not having a plan to end the crisis to convince the demonstrators to leave Ottawa. “We are talking about an impasse on Parliament Hill. We must have solutions. There must be an outstretched hand: where is it? repeated Candice Bergen without ever raising her voice.
At the beginning of the week, however, the discourse was quite different. Mme Bergen posted on Twitter shots featuring her alongside truckers and protesters from his province. “They deserve to be heard and they deserve to be respected,” wrote the Manitoba MP.
Several Conservatives also supported the convoy, despite a few swastika flags and a stretching occupation. Some elected officials believe that the protesters have delivered their message and that they should now leave, but they are not offended that Mme Bergen gave them such enthusiastic support.
With the exception of Quebecer Joël Godin. The deputy accepts that Mr.me Bergen has so far spoken personally, when she was deputy chief. “She is now acting chief. I hope she will have some reserve, ”he said in an interview. Because the party has not taken the position “to encourage civil disobedience”, he noted.
The tone of Mme Bergen contrasted Wednesday with his remarks made in the Commons on Monday. She then called on the Prime Minister to meet the demonstrators, affirmed that everyone condemns “the acts of hatred and destruction committed in any demonstration” and cited as examples “the unbolting of the statue of Sir John A. [Macdonald] or even “Hezbollah flags or Nazi flags”.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller called the comparison “ridiculous” and “completely obscene.”
The new interim leader is said to have objected on Monday to the Conservative Party inviting protesters to pack up, according to an email sent to her colleagues and whose Globe and Mail got a copy. This possibility would have been discussed again on Thursday, but no decision would have been taken, according to information from the Duty.
Mme Bergen is not the only one to have drawn criticism. Three elected Conservatives and the party’s only senator in Saskatchewan also have a photo taken with a trucker near the parliament on Wednesday evening. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told them immediately accused on Twitter to “praise this illegal activity” which has subjected downtown residents to harassment from protesters and the incessant honking of car horns for a week now.
One of the MPs, Rosemarie Falk, retorted that she “rejects the thesis that elected officials should not meet, for example, Saskatchewan people who have crossed the country to be here in order to carry their message that they want to be able to work “.