~BW Uzelman

The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) caucus strongly support Pierre Poilievre in the CPC leadership race. (Ten MPs in BC, including three in the Okanagan and several in other Interior constituencies, support him.) That is a little puzzling. Poilievre displayed a serious lack of judgement earlier in 2022. He supported the Freedom Convoy in their illegal occupation of Ottawa. Many freestanding businesses and an entire shopping mall were forced to close, residents did not feel safe to use their streets, and big rig horns blasted day and night sa国际传媒� for four weeks.

At the same time, blockades illegally stopped all international border traffic in Windsor, Ontario and Coutts, Alberta and elsewhere. This caused businesses and working truckers great inconvenience, additional costs and an inability, in many cases, to operate or work at all. The occupiers and blockaders were allegedly protecting their freedoms, but in the process, they stomped on the freedoms and rights of others.

For an MP, to support such protests, is unacceptable. And Poilievre is continuing to appeal to this constituency with his freedom rhetoric and anti-mandate policies. He has irresponsibly vowed to ban vaccine mandates. Covid is still here. New variants could threaten many Canadianssa国际传媒� health, and impose new stresses on our fragile healthcare system. That Poilievre supports such positions is indeed perplexing.

He, for years, has been the most partisan and aggressive MP in the House of Commons. In his time as former Prime Minister Steven Harpersa国际传媒檚 Parliamentary Secretary, he became known as Harpersa国际传媒檚 sa国际传媒渁ttack dogsa国际传媒�. Harper, as PM, demonstrated good judgment, and provided very capable government. I have seen nothing in Poilievre to lend me hope that he will develop the same skills.

Poilievre, personally, may have slightly moderated his tone over the years, but his campaign is highly antagonistic. Jenni Byrne, a top advisor to Poilievre, offered up an exceptional rebuke of her own Party in a July Statement, sa国际传媒淭he Party chose a Laurentian elite liberal media personality to moderate the Edmonton Debate.sa国际传媒� Okay, she lost most readers at sa国际传媒淟aurentian elitesa国际传媒�, but to her it is a contemptible liberal business, political and academic elite.

She contended the debate fiasco sa国际传媒渉appened despite strong cautions to the Party about both the moderator and the format sa国际传媒� all of which were ignored.sa国际传媒� She colourfully added the moderator, sa国际传媒減layed a sad trombone sound when a candidate or the audience didnsa国际传媒檛 comply with his stupid rules.sa国际传媒� Her criticism of the moderator and the Party is right on the mark, but why savage your own Party?

She ends with a skewering of Jean Charest, sa国际传媒淣o one is interested in a scandal plagued, tax and spend, carbon tax-loving, defeated Liberal Premier.sa国际传媒� Nasty! So much for CPC Party unity. Jenni Byrne is to Pierre Poilievre what Pierre Poilievre was to Steven Harper.

However, Poilievre is a good communicator, is reportedly intelligent and has a slightly geeky type of charisma. Perhaps that, and the fact CPC MPsa国际传媒檚 expect him to mortally bruise the Trudeau Liberals, explains their overwhelming support for him. The caucus, which is relatively right wing, have come to view Poilievre as a true conservative, though he has offered very little in the way of substantive policies, and the policies offered are more populist than conservative.

An Angus Reid poll released July 25, 2022, shows with either Poilievre or Charest as leader of the CPC, the party achieves 34% of the national vote, but Charest would double Poilievresa国际传媒檚 lead over the Liberals, 10% as opposed to 5%. Similarly, in BC, with either Poilievre or Charest as leader, the CPC wins 35% of the vote, but the differential between the CPC and the Liberals is a whopping 13% under Charest, while it is 7% under Poilievre. The lead over the Liberals is important because the Liberalsa国际传媒檚 vote efficiency is higher than the CPCsa国际传媒檚. (The Liberals significantly top the seat count when the vote count for each party is comparable.)

If CPC party members base their choice purely on election winnability, they would be well advised to choose Charest. Indeed, if they base their choice on solid, conservative policy proposals, they should choose Charest as well.

Bruce Uzelman lives in Kelowna and has a Bachelor of Arts, Advanced, Majoring in Political Science and Economics from the University of Saskatchewan from Saskatoon, Sask.

Contact: urbangeneral@shaw.ca

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