(Ottawa) Pierre Poilievre on Monday sidestepped a Liberal question asked in the House of Commons explicitly inviting him to condemn “supporters of white supremacy, anarchy and misogyny.” It’s “petty politics,” they retort in the conservative leader’s camp.
“I unequivocally disavow the guy who spent the first half of his adult life as a practicing racist, dressing up as Black face », Rather replied Mr. Poilievre, referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
His deputies then applauded him wildly and shouted so loudly that his words were inaudible. He went on to falsely claim that Mr. Trudeau “accepted support from Hamas.”
The Liberals have been emphasizing in broad strokes for several days that the symbol of the anti-government and far-right group Diagolon is drawn on the door of a trailer that Mr. Poilievre visited while going to encourage demonstrators against carbon pricing who set up a camp along a highway on the border of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
In another video of the visit to this demonstration resembling a “Freedom Convoy” where flags of Canada and “F*** Trudeau” rub shoulders, the Conservative leader asserts about the Prime Minister that “all that ‘he says is from the bullshit, from beginning to end “. He also announces a “great Canadian tax revolt”.
The Liberals also note that Mr. Poilievre does not disavow the support he received at the beginning of the month from notorious American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who denies a massacre perpetrated in an American school and whom Mr. Trudeau describes as “garbage.”
It was the government House leader, Steven MacKinnon, who took up the torch on Monday, this time in the Commons. “The Leader of the Opposition now has 30 seconds to address this House and Canadians once I take my seat. I ask him to clearly disavow the opinions of these dangerous people. Will he do that? », he sent.
And faced with the comment that Mr. Poilievre had just made to him, Mr. MacKinnon said that it showed the “true face” of the Conservative leader.
“He speaks without conviction and without clarity on an issue that should be very, very, very simple for him,” he declared to cries from conservatives. His silence speaks volumes. This is not leadership. This is political cowardice. »
“Petty politics”
Shortly after question period, the deputy leader of the Conservatives in the House, Luc Berthold, was asked in a press scrum if he is embarrassed that his leader does not condemn white supremacists and anarchists .
“Today, we saw the liberals try to change the subject. We are facing an extremely serious situation right now, what is happening in British Columbia,” he began to respond before being interrupted to clarify the link between the very specific question on white supremacy.
“Well, there isn’t any,” added Mr. Berthold. And my answer is that today I am focusing particularly on the very serious situation that is currently unfolding, on the fact that the government should concentrate on saving lives rather than playing petty politics as it did so today in the House of Commons. »
According to the explanation from the Conservative leader’s office, Mr. Poilievre decided to make a “brief impromptu stop” when he noticed a demonstration against carbon pricing on his way between two events in the Maritimes.
As for the support of Alex Jones, his spokesperson Marion Ringuette indicated that “unlike Justin Trudeau”, the Conservatives do not follow or listen to this “individual”, but that they are making efforts to do the opposite. to win the support of Canadians.