The Ontario Progressive Conservative government has been a major disappointment to conservative Ontarians on multiple fronts since they were elected to a majority government back in 2018. Spending has not been brought under control, wasteful green technology programs have not been scrapped, and small businesses and civil rights were trashed due to draconian government lockdowns and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A month ago, Pierre Poilievre used his highly weaponized Twitter account to announce a run for the Conservative leadership with a tightly staged three-minute video: the MP in a suit and tie, seated at a desk before an expansive bookshelf, vowing to deliver Canadians from oppressive government and elite control.
On Thursday, Jean Charest announced his own candidacy for the Conservative leadership by joining Twitter and posting a casual 22-second video — no tie, only a blank white wall behind him — to greet his new followers.
Federal Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest is pushing back on claims made by his rival Pierre Poilievre that he is a Liberal, calling the allegation “ludicrous.”
“When (Poilievre) says I’m a Liberal, is there anyone in the country that doesn’t already know that I went to Quebec politics to fight the separatists’ cause in a coalition party that was called the Liberal Party, as is this case in British Columbia,” said Charest, in an interview airing Sunday morning on CTV’s Question Period with Evan Solomon.
Poilievre and his surrogates have been attempting to paint Charest as a Liberal, due to Charest serving as the Quebec premier from 2003 until 2012 as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party.
Lots of media push for Charest. That should be a Liberal red flag.
Jean Charest launched his Conservative Party leadership campaign on Thursday. There had been plenty of anticipation over this announcement from the former Quebec Liberal premier and federal PC leader.
Several commentators had encouraged him to jump in and make it a competitive race. There’s been some analysis of the diminished role of moderate Conservatives in the party, and how his campaign could help correct this. National Post columnist Tasha Kheiriddin, who opted not to run for the party leadership this week, threw her support behind Charest as “the candidate that I believe can best unify the party and win the next election.”
On Sunday morning, at 11 a.m., Patrick Brown will become the fifth candidate to enter the Conservative leadership race. Brown will join perceived front runner MP Pierre Poilievre, former Quebec Premier and PC Party leader Jean Charest, MP Leslyn Lewis and Ontario MPP Roman Baber in the hunt for the top Conservative job.
A new poll suggests that Conservative voters believe Pierre Poilievre would make the best leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
The Leger poll found that 41 per cent of Conservative voters believe Poilievre would make the best leader. Jean Charest, who is set to launch his Conservative leadership campaign in Calgary on Thursday, is the second choice (10 per cent), followed by Peter MacKay (nine per cent), Patrick Brown (three per cent), and Leslyn Lewis (two per cent). Thirty-three per cent were undecided or preferred not to answer.
I like him but I doubt he will be able to shake the CPC from its LPC 2.0 wet dream.
CTV News has expressed “regrets” over a 2018 story about then Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown with “factually incorrect” information that caused “harm” to his provincial political career.
In a settlement Wednesday, CTV acknowledged the story, which alleged sexual impropriety with two women, “required correction.” After the story was broadcast, Brown strongly denied the allegations and filed an $8-million defamation suit against the network’s parent company, Bellmedia.
Brown, Lewis, Charest to announce Conservative leadership runs this week: sources
It’s going to be a pivotal week in the Conservative leadership race. Sources close to former Quebec premier Jean Charest, Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis and former MP and Brampton, Ont., Mayor Patrick Brown predict all three will formally announce their leadership bids.
Lewis made the leap first. On Tuesday she tweeted out a video announcing her bid and saying she wants to run a campaign based on hope, unity and compassion.
She’ll try to reignite the enthusiasm she garnered in the 2019 leadership race — when she emerged from political obscurity to run a widely praised campaign focused on national and party unity and her social conservative values, including an opposition to abortion.
Leslyn Lewis became a star in the Conservative Party of Canada during its last leadership race.
Now she’s making another run at the leadership — this time with a political track record that places her firmly to the right of the Conservative political spectrum.
The number of times someone has mentioned the name Jean Charest to me in the past decade, even if just in passing, is close to zero.
The only time the former federal Progressive Conservative leader and Quebec Liberal Premier has really come up in conversation has been in the context of: “Omg, did you hear Charest was consulting for Huawei to help them deal with the Meng Wanzhou issue?!” (Yes, he really did.)
A group of longtime Conservatives is advocating for leadership hopefuls to develop credible climate plans at the same time as cancelling the federal carbon price has emerged as one of the first promises out of the race.
Ken Boessenkool, executive director of the recently launched Conservatives for Clean Growth, said Friday it doesn’t view a consumer carbon price as the make-or-break feature of a good plan to tackle climate change.
Scrap the carbon tax? Where have I heard that before?
I know many like Poilievre, I do too but I’m not sure he can turn the CPC into a conservative party.
A spokesman for Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown says he will soon make a decision about whether to enter the Conservative party leadership race.
Gary Collins says Brown is pleased with the rules the party’s leadership election organizing committee has released so far on how long candidates will have to sign up members.
The party says candidates will have until April 19 to enter the race and until June 3 to submit membership applications.
The Conservatives will elect their next leader by Sept. 10, the party announced Wednesday after adopting the rules for its third leadership race in six years.
Prospective candidates will have until Apr. 19 to send in their applications, at a cost of $200,000, along with a $100,000 deposit to ensure compliance with the rules. The deposit will be refunded after the contest is over.
I can’t believe they’re pushing this guy.
Jean Charest says he’s not afraid of a tough battle for Conservative leadership
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest says that if he became the leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister, he would bring fiscal discipline to federal spending, mend regional divisions and restore Canada’s brand on the international stage.
Mr. Charest said he has a wealth of experience as a federal cabinet minister under former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney and as Quebec premier from 2003 until 2012.
He met privately Tuesday evening with dozens of Conservative MPs and senators who wanted to hear his vision for the country.
Can’t you just feel the excitement?
More than 20 years separate them. One has a large social media presence, the other has none. One has been an MP for seven consecutive terms, the other has extensive experience as a former premier and in the private sector. One is adored by the current membership of the party. The other is now seen as an outsider from a party he left more than two decades ago.
Charest? News so old I had to look him up on a microfiche.
I like Poilievre, but can he be more than just a great wingman?
And will he fix CPC policy to stop the bleed to the PPC?
I don’t think so.
Supporters of Pierre Poilievre’s bid for the Conservative Party leadership are calling on the party’s caucus and one member of its Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) to hold the race quickly.
Conservative New Brunswick MP John Williamson sent an email Wednesday to all Conservative MPs calling for a vote no later than July 1.
“It is my belief we should have a leader in place for the start of summer, which for me is ahead of Canada Day,” Williamson says in the email, obtained by CBC News. “That’s four months from now, giving the leadership contenders ample time to campaign and sign up new members.
Canada’s political world is abuzz about the possibility that Jean Charest might run for the Conservative party leadership. Some Tories are so excited, they penned a breathless open letter, in which they claim the former deputy prime minister and premier of Quebec is “tailor-made to lead the Canadian people out of the crisis we are currently going through with COVID-19.”
