(OTTAWA) Close aides to new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre are calling on party members to flood the constituency office of MP Alain Rayes to force him to resign less than 24 hours after he left the party.
Posted at 1:07 p.m.
Updated at 1:27 p.m.
The campaign to party members in the riding of Richmond-Arthabaska took the form of a text message sent at noon on Wednesday.
“ALERT: Your MP Alain Rayes has just left the Conservative Party. He decided not to fight Trudeau inflation with the united team of Pierre Poilievre. Alain, call his office now and tell him to resign from his position as an MP, ”reads the text message obtained by The Press.
The text includes Mr. Rayes’ constituency office phone number.
“It’s disgusting,” exclaimed Alain Rayes on the phone, joined by The Press.
“It’s just amazing. I can not believe it. Pierre Poilievre has just confirmed once again that I made the right decision by leaving the party. I want more politics like that. I just can’t believe what they are doing. I invite my colleagues from Quebec to stand up and denounce this type of thing,” said Mr. Rayes.
At the time of this writing, employees in Mr. Rayes’ office had only taken a few calls around lunchtime. Out of twenty calls, 19 people gave their support to Alain Rayes. Only one person has indicated that they endorse Pierre Poilievre.
“They take money from party members to launch such a campaign and bury my voicemail. They want to prevent my employees from doing their job to support the citizens of my riding. Pierre Poilievre practices a scorched earth policy. It’s clear,” Mr. Rayes added.
At the time of this writing, The Press could not get comments from Pierre Poilievre’s new political lieutenant in Quebec, Pierre Paul-Hus, or from the Conservative leader’s office.
On Radio-Canada, on the show Noon Info moderated by Alec Castonguay, Mr. Paul-Hus however affirmed that there was no organized campaign against Mr. Rayes.
On Tuesday, Mr. Rayes slammed the door of the Conservative Party and announced that he will sit as an independent MP for Richmond-Arthabaska in the House of Commons after being elected under the Conservative banner for the first time in 2015.
“I no longer find myself within my own political formation in which I have invested myself for seven years now,” said Mr. Rayes, in a video addressed to his constituents that he posted on social media.
“There are issues, there are values, there are convictions on which for me I cannot compromise,” added Mr. Rayes, who has set his sights on former Quebec Premier Jean Charest during the leadership race.
Among these issues, he noted respect for law and order, the protection of Canadian institutions, the fight against climate change and the sound management of public finances, among other things.
Mr. Rayes, who was political lieutenant in Quebec of former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer and took over these functions under the leadership of Erin O’Toole after the last federal election, indicated that he had “no intention” to grow. the ranks of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals or participate in the creation of another political party.
Mr. Poilievre reacted on Tuesday by saying that Mr. Rayes had decided not to participate in his fight against inflation.
” He [M. Rayes] decided not to fight Justin Trudeau’s inflation. We work to fight the deficits and inflationary taxes imposed by Justin Trudeau. Citizens of Alain Rayes County agree. They voted for me in the leadership race. And I think all the conservatives who are left are of the same opinion.
On Monday, Mr. Poilievre stretched out a pole for Quebec MPs, who sided mostly with Jean Charest during the race, by making a surprise visit to the Quebec caucus meeting, before the national caucus.
This visit was hailed by all of Quebec’s elected officials and senators as the Conservative leader’s sincere desire to take steps to unite the troops. However, Alain Rayes was not present at the meeting of the caucus of Quebec nor at that of the national caucus, thus fueling the discussions of corridor on his future.