Charest says Poilievre unfit for party leadership after support for Freedom Convoy 2022
Posted Apr 12, 2022 06:24:00 PM.
Jean Charest, the former premier of Quebec who is vying to become the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, believes his rival has disqualified himself from consideration in the leadership race for supporting the Freedom Convoy protest that occupied Ottawa earlier this year.
In an interview on CityNews' The Rob Snow Show on April 12 Charest said that Pierre Poilievre should not be running for the Conservative leadership race after showcasing support for the convoy. The anti-government and anti-vaccine protests occupied downtown Ottawa and spurred Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke the federal Emergencies Act for the first time in Canada's history. Charest said that Poilievre continued to support the protest after it was declared illegal by law enforcement and that calls into question his character and qualifications to be leader of the party.
“If you are an elected representative anywhere, and you are given the privilege to make laws and change laws, you can't show support to people who break laws,” said Charest. “That's just not an option.”
Poilievre was vocal in his support for the Freedom Convoy protest, appearing in social media videos on highway overpasses with other supporters and making statements in support of the protest in the media and House of Commons over the course of the occupation.
“You can't live in a world where laws are like a buffet where you choose what you like and what you don't like,” said Charest. “If you want to be leader, if you want to be the Prime Minister, you are making laws and you tell people you have to live by these laws.”
Charest also pointed to Poilievre's stance on the controversial Bill 21 in Quebec, which bars civil servants from wearing religious symbols and has been criticized as being racist. Poilievre has not openly condemned the Bill, which Charest says is further evidence he is not suited to be party leader.
“On Bill 21 in Quebec…when this was proposed to me as Premier I said no,” he said. “It would have been more popular for me to do it, but I didn't do it because it went against the Quebec Charter and the Canadian Charter.”
The Conservative Party leadership race will be decided September 10, 2022.
Listen to the full conversation with Jean Charest on The Rob Snow Show:
