The Conservative Party of Canada apologized on Twitter late Tuesday night for a text message sent to members of Independent MP Alain Rayes’ riding urging them to phone his county office to urge him to resign. The approach had been described as a “smear operation” by the former party deputy.
Mr. Rayes, who slammed the door of the political formation the day before, reproached the office of the new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Wednesday for having sent a text message to the members of the party in the riding of Richmond—Arthabaska urging them to call the constituency office and to demand the resignation of Alain Rayes.
“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. […] Call his office now and tell him to resign from his job as an MP, ”says the message, of which The Canadian Press was able to consult a copy and which specifies the telephone number to call.
“I fell out of my chair,” said Mr. Rayes, who received the text message himself, as did his children, wife, parents and friends.
Since noon Wednesday, the three employees in his office “paid with taxpayers’ money” have been inundated with calls, preventing them from helping citizens with their passport, immigration, tax and pensions, he said.
According to Mr. Rayes, this “smear operation” paid for by funds contributed by activists is simply intended to “intimidate” his colleagues by implying: “this is what happens if you decide to leave the Conservative Party”.
Late Wednesday evening, at 10:27 p.m., the party apologized on Twitter for taking the step.
The Conservative Party of Canada apologizes for an automated text message sent earlier today to party members in the riding of Richmond-Arthabaska.
— Conservative Party (@PCC_HQ) September 15, 2022
Alain Rayes, who supported Jean Charest in the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, announced on Tuesday that he will now sit as an independent in the House of Commons since he “no longer finds himself within [s]own political party”.
Asked about this departure during a press briefing on Tuesday, Mr. Poilievre criticized Alain Rayes for having “decided not to fight Mr. Trudeau’s inflation”, unlike his team. Mr. Poilievre even bragged that “the citizens” of the riding of Richmond—Arthabaska voted for him during the party leadership race.
The MP, who, by the way, has “no way” intending to resign, believes that Mr. Poilievre is making “an intellectual shortcut”, since it is “about 300” Conservative members of the constituency who voted for the new leader. And “do we agree” that they are not representative of his voters.
On this subject, Mr. Rayes said that when he goes out on the street, he receives “nothing but congratulations” for his decision. “I’m buried in requests,” he said. We are not talking in hundreds, we are talking in thousands of messages that I have received since yesterday from across the country, from Quebec, then from my riding. »
The office of Pierre Poilievre and his Quebec lieutenant Pierre Paul-Hus had not responded to a request for comment from The Canadian Press at the time of this writing.
With Duty