Conservative officials have confirmed that Pierre Poilievre and Leslyn Lewis have told party officials they will not attend the Aug. 3 debate in Ottawa. That leaves Jean Charest, Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison to hash it out for 90 minutes on Wednesday at 6pm. ET. Under party rules, both Poilievre and Lewis must now pay an automatic penalty of $50,000 for skipping a formal debate. Both had already made it known that they were unhappy with the decision to hold a third debate. Poilievre senior adviser Jenni Byrne released a statement last week saying the party’s first official debate in Edmonton was “widely recognized as an embarrassment” and faulting the party for its choice of moderator and format. Byrne wrote that since the time to register new members is now over, Poilievre should be on the road “non-stop” getting members to fill out their ballots. He mocked Charest, saying he needed Poilievre’s participation in the debate to attract an audience. Lewis, meanwhile, publicly shared a letter she had sent to the Conservative leadership committee. In it, Lewis claimed she had been given no information about the format of the debate and had told the party she would not be available on the date set for the event. He asked the committee if the debate would deal with “the usual questions” about pipelines and budgets or instead take up issues he said he hears about every day from the Conservatives – such as calls for an inquiry into the pandemic response of Canada and concerns about the World Economic Forum. Open letter to LEOC. pic.twitter.com/sbeBMJjRhM —@LeslynLewis The Conservative Party held an online poll asking members to consider whether a third debate was warranted. He said there was “overwhelming consensus” in favor of the debate, which he sees as a “key opportunity” to help members decide who will lead the party. The party began sending ranked ballots to members earlier this month and about 80,000 have already been returned, a party spokesman said. Patrick Brown’s name appears on that ballot despite being disqualified by officials on July 5 for what the party’s leadership committee called “serious allegations of wrongdoing” related to campaign finance.
Charest suggests Poilievre deserves some ‘freedom’
Charest’s campaign used the upcoming debate as an opportunity to poke fun at Poilievre. Let Pierre do the talking. It’s time to pic.twitter.com/U5WzVeemTN —@JeanCharest_ Hours before the party confirmed the Carleton MP would not be participating in the debate, Charest’s campaign released an online video with the caption “It’s time to #FreePierre” — apparently a riff on Poilievre’s freedom campaign theme. The Conservatives have until September 6 at 5pm. ET to mail the envelope containing their ballots. The winner will be announced on September 10th.
