Michel Saba, The Canadian Press
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OTTAWA — Attacks flared Thursday evening between Jean Charest and the leader of the Conservative leadership race Pierre Poilievre, during an initial debate in which five of the six candidates took part in front of a crowd of converts.
Mr. Poilievre was the first to throw down the gauntlet after twenty minutes of debate, accusing the former Premier of Quebec placed immediately to his right of being “the Liberal on this stage”.
“Frankly, Mr. Charest, to talk to you about law and order, it’s a bit much given that your party, your Liberal Party, collected half a million dollars in illegal donations when you were leading it. , he sent. The average trucker has more integrity in his little finger than you had in your whole Liberal cabinet of scandals.”
Jean Charest allowed himself a frontal attack a few minutes later on the Act respecting the secularism of the State, in Quebec, which “prevents the right of Canadians to wear religious symbols”, which he opposes.
“Pierre Poilievre said in French in Quebec, not elsewhere in Canada, that if it goes to the Supreme Court, he will not speak on behalf of Canada. So Pierre, this idea of freedom, is it true or is it a slogan?” pointed out Mr. Charest.
“I said I was against Bill 21 in French, in English,” replied Mr. Poilievre.
In another vicious attack, Mr. Poilievre asked Jean Charest how much money he took from Huawei.
“How much? How much? How many?” he kept repeating as his opponent avoided answering.
Tory candidate Leslyn Lewis has blasted Mr Poilievre for ‘shunning the media’ because he doesn’t want to state clearly whether he is ‘pro-life or pro-choice’.
“He can’t just be a finance minister if he wants to be a prime minister. He will have to deal with the social conservative issues that he has avoided throughout this campaign,” she said.
This first oratorical contest also allowed supporters to see Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison on stage. They attacked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and presented themselves, too, as rallying candidates.
Patrick Brown is the only absent candidate. His campaign team said he was too busy selling membership cards as the June 3 deadline approached. After this date, new members will not have the right to vote in the leadership race.
“He says one thing in one room and another thing in another”, did not fail to reproach Pierre Poilièvre to the one who was conspicuous by his absence.
This was not an official debate. The event is organized as part of the conservative network “Canada Strong and Free” which holds its annual convention in Ottawa.
The organization works to promote conservative ideals. It was founded by Preston Manning, the former leader of the Reform Party of Canada, the forerunner of the Canadian Alliance which later merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the current CPC.
Next week, the six candidates are due to take part in the party’s first official debate.
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