Jean Charest escalates his attacks on Pierre Poilievre in the Conservative Party leadership race, saying that the Conservative MP’s strong support for this year’s truckers’ rally should exclude him as a candidate for national leadership. Mr Charest’s strongest words coincide with clear signs of momentum in the Poilievre campaign, which often draws large crowds to stops across the country. In a national television interview on Sunday, Mr Charest targeted Mr Poilievre immediately. “Everyone knows that Pierre Poilievre supported the blockade. “Well, I’m sorry, if you want to be the leader of a party, if you want to sit in the House of Commons and make laws, you have to obey them,” he said. “This is not just a leadership failure. It excludes you, as far as I am concerned, that you are someone who thinks or aspires to be the leader of a party “. The level of open hostility between the main candidates is unusually high for a leadership race of a large national party, which usually presents with minor political disagreements and avoids personal attacks. Mr Poilievre’s social media accounts have been harshly critical of Mr Charest, arguing that he supports higher taxes and is no different from the ruling Liberals. Mr Poilievre’s team has also clashed frequently with Patrick Brown, the former Conservative MP and current mayor of Brampton, Ont, who is also running for party leadership. Responding to a request for comment, Mr Poilievre said in a statement that Mr Charest was “repeating liberal lies about truckers” and attacking Canadians who oppose “unjust and unscientific vaccine mandates”, carbon taxes and Canadians who support cryptocurrencies. “Jean Charest should be excluded from becoming prime minister after selling off Canada’s security for a quick sum, working to acquire Huawei technology in Canada’s communications networks,” he said. The comment refers to Mr. Charest’s previous work as a consultant to Chinese Huawei in the Meng Wanzhou extradition case and to the company’s efforts to participate in Canada’s 5G wireless networks. Mr. Poilievre, who represents a suburban and rural cavalry in the southwestern tip of Ottawa, was an early supporter of the freight motorcade that blocked major roads in the city center for three weeks. Protesters voiced a number of grievances, but generally opposed government restrictions related to COVID-19. “I’m proud of the truckers and I stand with them,” Poilievre said in a podcast recorded on February 10, as the protesters, who arrived in late January, were stationed and showed no signs of leaving. Several other Conservative lawmakers also openly supported the protests, including former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who posed for a photo in early February with his thumb in front of a truck parked in Ottawa. The federal government invoked the emergency law on February 14, and the following weekend a large police force cleared the streets and towed trucks. Some of the main organizers have been arrested and are facing serious criminal charges. “She is OK. “There are consequences to these decisions and one of the consequences is that he should not be a party leader, much less a prime minister,” Charest told CTV. He also criticized Mr Poilievre’s support for cryptocurrencies in response to inflation. “Not only is it wrong, it’s just weird,” said Charest. “Do you know what worries me? “There are people who will listen to him and put a lot of money into cryptocurrencies and disappear.” Mr Querest, a former Quebec prime minister and former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, formally launched his campaign a month ago in Calgary at a much smaller crowd than usual for Mr Poilievre. Mr. Charest was scheduled to appear on Sunday at the popular Quebec talk show Everyone talks about it. Mr Poilievre is in the middle of a tour of British Columbia and Alberta. Campaign events often included crowds of more than 1,000 people and factions for the opportunity to meet the candidate, who is a former finance critic and was a cabinet minister under former Prime Minister Steven Harper. The deadline for registering new members who can vote in the leadership race is June 3. The new leader will be announced on September 10. For subscribers: Receive exclusive political news and analysis by subscribing to Political information.
