Two Stephen Harper-era cabinet ministers say his endorsement of Pierre Poilievre for the Conservative Party leadership failed to address the candidate’s “petty” economic policies. Lawrence Cannon, Quebec’s lieutenant governor and foreign minister under Mr. Harper, and former environment minister Peter Kent are backing Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier, in the leadership race. This week, Mr. Harper, the only leader of the current iteration of the Conservative Party to serve as prime minister, endorsed Mr. Poiliev for the leadership over the other four candidates in the race. In written comments Wednesday, Mr. Cannon and Mr. Kent described Mr. Harper’s move as a “surprising intervention” in the campaign because they could not recall a former prime minister having similar public support for a successor. But they said “the most puzzling part” of Mr. Harper’s endorsement was that he “didn’t consider Pierre’s unusual — in some cases irresponsible — proposals to address today’s economic challenges.” They referred to the Ottawa MP’s promotion of cryptocurrency as a hedge against inflation, promising to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada, “motivating the marchers” and inciting “indignant angry supporters with promises of Freedom.” Coyne: Majority winner in five tries says Poilievre has what it takes The commentary was written amid rebuttals from Mr. Harper who posted a tweet this week in which he said he supported Mr. Pouliev. Since his nine-year term as prime minister ended in 2015, Mr. Harper has not performed similarly in either of the previous two leadership races. He said in his social media post that Mr Poilievre stood out among the candidates for his role as an opposition critic, his thorough approach to issues and his support and recruitment of new members. There are five candidates in the race, which concludes with the announcement of the winner on September 10. In addition to Mr. Charest and Mr. Poilievre, they are Ontario MPs Scott Aitchison and Leslyn Lewis as well as Roman Baber, a former Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario legislature. Also on Wednesday, Ms Lewis said she would not attend next week’s party debate on Conservative leadership candidates unless certain issues including abortion, the World Economic Forum and the WHO pandemic treaty were raised. “If we are not going to deal with these issues, I don’t see how I can justify anything other than going directly to the membership to answer these questions,” Ms Lewis says in an open letter to her leadership organizing committee. party. He said Conservative party members wanted answers to six questions about issues such as abortion. an investigation into the response to the pandemic; serious adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines; and the World Economic Forum “and their plans for programs that infringe on the privacy of Canadians.” Ms Lewis, who declined to reveal her vaccination status, has alleged discrimination over vaccination status and blamed the Liberal government for divisions that have arisen during the pandemic. He has promoted a policy to end sex-selective abortions and supports “pregnancy care centres” (which are known for discouraging abortions) and also says Canada’s overseas funding should go to supporting mothers and children rather than funding of abortions. The Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Haldimand-Norfolk he said these were questions “everyday Conservatives” ask. Among other things, he also wants a question about what the party will say when the Liberals bring up abortion at the next election. “I cannot, in good conscience, pass up the opportunity to meet thousands of Canadians who are desperate for answers so that I can attend an impromptu meeting with prospective leaders to discuss questions that have already been memorized in previous debate videos available on Internet. » writes Mrs. Lewis in her letter. Her comments represent a fresh challenge to the August 3 debate, organized after party members voted to see if they wanted the event. It is set to be the third official debate after the events in Edmonton and Laval, Que. Mr Poilievre’s campaign said in a statement last week that he would not attend the debate because he would rather encourage party members to fill out and send in their ballots. Mr Aitchison, Mr Baber and Mr Charest have all committed to attending the debate. When Mr. Poilievre refused to attend the debate, party spokesman Yaroslav Baran cited a section of the party’s leadership campaign rules that says failure to participate in a party-sanctioned debate will result in an automatic $50,000 penalty. – or any amount deemed appropriate by the party’s leadership debate committee. On Wednesday, Mr. Baran said that Ms. Lewis’ request is not original. “Obviously, it would be inappropriate for anyone to dictate what the questions are going to be as a condition of participation,” he said. He said planning is moving forward on the format and logistics for the debate, and the campaigns have been asked to confirm by Thursday whether or not they will attend this week. Subscribers Only: Get exclusive political news and analysis by subscribing to Political information.
