Conservative leadership contenders cross swords on inflation, Quebec's Bill 21
Candidates competing to lead the federal Conservatives traded barbs over contentious language laws, inflation and the trucker convoy in the race's only French-language debate Wednesday night, with Pierre Poilievre finding himself on the defensive through parts of the evening.
The debate took place in Quebec, a crucial region that has proven instrumental in the party's last two leadership races, despite only 10 of the 119 current Conservative MPs being based in the province.
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest and Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ont., both accused longtime Ottawa-area MP Pierre Poilievre of evading clarity when speaking about Quebec's controversial secularism law, which has widespread support in the province.
"I am against Bill 21," longtime Ottawa-area MP Pierre Poilievre said on stage before several hundred Conservatives gathered in Laval, Que.
The legislation prohibits certain public servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols on the job.
Poilievre insisted he would not overturn the stance of federal Justice Minister David Lametti, who said earlier Wednesday that Ottawa would join a challenge to the law should it reach the Supreme Court.
Charest said that a prime minister "shouldn’t be neutral" on the legislation, while stressing Quebec's right to make laws within its jurisdiction.
Brown has spent the race campaigning against the religious symbols law, which he calls an affront to religious freedom.
Candidates took the stage one day after a contentious language reform bill passed Quebec's legislature. Bill 96 seeks to limit the use of English in the courts and public services, grant powers of search and seizure without a warrant to Quebec's language regulator and cap enrolment at English-language junior colleges, called CEGEPs, where students would have to take more courses in French.
Asked after the debate whether he would fight the legislation, Charest told reporters he would "speak to it" if elected prime minister, but held back on denouncing it.
Leadership candidate Scott Aitchison, an MP from rural Ontario, released a statement ahead of Wednesday's event pledging that a government led by him would work with Quebecers to see the new language bill and province's religious symbols law repealed, calling Premier François Legault's reforms "divisive."
The debate took place as a key deadline approaches.
The six candidates have until June 3 to sign up supporters as party members eligible to vote in the leadership contest.
The former Progressive Conservatives dominated in Quebec under former Brian Mulroney. The Conservative Party of Canada, which formed in 2003, has never elected more than a dozen MPs in the province. That high-water mark came in 2015, when former prime minister Stephen Harper led the party in the election but then stepped down after losing to the Liberals.
During the 2021 election, then-leader Erin O'Toole tried to change that, including by promising to enter into a new contract with Quebec that would better respect its areas of jurisdiction.
The new leader will be announced Sept. 10 at an in-person gathering of party members at a convention centre in downtown Ottawa.
On inflation, Charest jabbed Poilievre for having stated during the English-language debate earlier this month he would fire the Bank of Canada governor if he were elected prime minister.
Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis also joined Brown in attacking Poilievre for his embrace of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as a solution to inflation.
"Il est dans les patates," she said in French, which got a laugh from the audience. The expression translates literally to mean that someone is in the potato patch, but is used to chide someone for being wrong.
Lewis was often reading from her notes during a debate where she said she is learning to speak French.
At one point, Brown said Poilievre's position on Bitcoin was similar to that of the leadership in El Salvador, which adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.
The International Monetary Fund urged the Central American country to drop Bitcoin as its official currency earlier this year, citing its volatility.
Poilievre accused Charest of tax increases in Quebec, earning boos from the Charest-friendly crowd.
Roman Baber, who was an Independent Ontario lawmaker before the province headed into an election, also admitted he struggles in French.
“I know it’s very important for a prime minister to speak both languages," he said, adding he's had French lessons "almost every morning — I got up at 7 a.m. to do that." He requested patience from the audience.
Asked about organized crime in the province, Charest deemed it "ironic to hear Mr. Poilievre talk about law and order," citing his support for the protests that gridlocked downtown Ottawa for three weeks in February.
"Remember that," Charest said, drawing more boos from the raucous attendees.
“Remember the Charbonneau Commission?" Poilievre said later in the debate.
He was referring into an investigation into corruption in the province's construction industry that was launched by Charest's government near the end of his nine years as Quebec premier.
Asked during the debate how to curb illegal arrivals into Quebec at the unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road, Poilievre said he is "against illegal entries, but at the same time I am for immigration," noting his wife came to Canada as a Venezuelan refugee.
Should he become prime minister, Poilievre pledged to reach agreements with provinces within 60 days to recognize professional qualifications for newcomers to Canada.
Charest stressed the need to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement, which allows Canada to turn back potential refugees who show up at land ports of entry along the Canada-U.S. border.
The agreement says they must pursue their claims in the U.S., the country where they first arrived, but it only applies at official border crossings. Those entering at irregular crossings such as Roxham Road, near Hemmingford, Que., must be processed in Canada.
Charest also lamented "long" delays at the Immigration Department.
"You have to clean up the department to give a decisive boost," he said.
Brown attacked Poilievre by accusing him of not publicly condemning the "white replacement" conspiracy theory espoused by Pat King, a leader of the Ottawa convoy protest. (Poilievre denounced both the conspiracy theory and King in a statement to The Canadian Press last week.)
Poilievre responded by saying he has in fact "rejected" King's remarks, accusing Brown of dividing Conservatives by making different pledges to various community groups behind closed doors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2022.
— With files from Stephanie Taylor in Ottawa
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Local Spotlight
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Investigating the tale of Winnipeg's long-running mystery bookstore
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.