Last Conservative debate in Laval | Charest warns against ‘pseudo-American’ Poilievre

(Ottawa) The final debate in the Conservative Party leadership race saw robust exchanges between three candidates – Jean Charest, Pierre Poilievre and Patrick Brown – while the other three contenders – Leslyn Lewis, Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison – mainly played an extra role because of their poor command of French.

Joel-Denis Bellavance
The Press

Considered the leader of the race, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre was both jeered and applauded when he once again criticized Jean Charest’s record as premier of Quebec, as he has done since the start of the race. Mr. Charest responded by defending the decisions made during his three terms and invited his main adversary to change advisers because he was visibly ill-informed about the tax rate for Quebecers and the waiting times in the tax system. health.

Mr. Charest, however, took advantage of his closing statement to warn members of the Conservative Party against the temptation to set their sights on Mr. Poilievre by affirming that the latter was betting on American-style politics to take control of the party. .

“The question that arises and which is very serious is this: are we, in the Conservative Party, going to take the path of American-style politics, the politics of attack, the politics of opposing one group to the another, politics where we make slogans, where all the answers are dodges? “, launched Mr. Charest.

“I’m not offering to be a pseudo-American. This is not what we want as a country. We want a leader who can unite the party and who has judgment, who does not start on conspiracy theories, who does not start on theories about the Bank of Canada or bitcoin, ”he added. same breath.

Since the start of the race, Mr. Poilievre has promoted cryptocurrency as a means of escaping inflation, promised to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada if he becomes Prime Minister and recently claimed that no minister in a future Conservative government under his leadership would attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“Mr. Poilievre is in favor of digital cash to hedge against inflation. I disagree with him. He is in the potatoes “, has also dropped Leslyn Lewis reading his notes, triggering laughter in the room.

During the two-hour debate, the candidates were asked to comment on several topics, including immigration, the environment, public safety, official languages, inflation, trade, health and the means take on the Conservative Party to make gains in Quebec.

But in passing, the candidates also spoke out on two laws adopted by the Legault government, namely the State Secularism Act (Law 21) and Law 96 aimed at protecting the French language. The three candidates who do not speak French indicated that they strongly opposed these two laws.

As he has done since the start of the race, Mr. Poilievre has made himself an apostle of freedom, notably expressing his opposition to the compulsory vaccination required during the pandemic by the federal government and the provinces to go to restaurants and in public places.

The debate also gave rise to more sustained attacks between Pierre Poilievre and Patrick Brown. The latter notably accused Mr. Poilievre of being unable to unite the party and of showing hypocrisy by taking advantage of the support of a Huawei employee in Canada when he criticized Jean Charest for having worked in the past for the Chinese communications giant.

Support for Jean Charest

“I came to support Jean Charest, exclaimed Laurent Benarrous, a few minutes before the start of the debate. I think it’s time for the Conservative Party to change their recipe and field a candidate who is more centre-right, this is the only way for the Conservatives to dislodge the Liberals,” added the man who proudly wore the “Jean Charest” crest on his jacket.

Kathy Laframboise seconded. “I’ve come to see Jean Charest. I want to encourage him,” she said.

Pierre B. Fortin came to the Château Royal in Laval to learn more about the candidates’ ideas. But the outcome of the debate will have little impact on his choice. “It’s sure it’s Jean Charest. He is the best candidate at the moment who can replace Mr. Justin Trudeau, ”he judges.

A few meters further, Sherwin Edwards leaned more towards Pierre Poilievre. “He resonates with my convictions and my ideas, but I’m waiting to see if his actions will follow his chops,” said the man, who was participating in a debate for the first time.

The next party leader will be known on September 10.

With Alice Girard-Bossé, The Press