The two front-runners in the race for the Conservative Party’s top job traded blows over their records in the first leadership debate of the campaign Thursday.
Making it clear who he thinks his main opponent is, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre used much of his speaking time to attack former Quebec premier Jean Charest, a man he branded as a tax-hiking Liberal interloper.
Poilievre accused Charest of being too critical of the anti-vaccine mandate protest convoy that occupied much of downtown Ottawa earlier this year, saying he was proud to stand with “law-abiding” and “peaceful” truckers who were protesting COVID-19 restrictions.
At Conservative leadership debate, Pierre Poilievre takes aim at Jean Charest when asked re: his support for the Freedom Convoy. “The average trucker has more integrity in his pinky finger than you had in your entire scandal-plagued Liberal cabinet,” he says.#cpcldr | #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/XeaGlJhJRr
— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) May 5, 2022
Only chicanery could prevent a Poilievre victory after this debate and the CPC braintrust are just the men for the job.
