Poilievre slams Bernier’s Brandon visit as ‘stunt’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/06/2023 (834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre had harsh words for Maxime Bernier’s over the latter’s appearance at a recent Brandon School Division board of trustees meeting.

In Manitoba on Friday to help CPC candidates campaign in two federal byelections, the Leader of the Opposition referred to Bernier’s actions as a “stunt.”

“Maxime Bernier is a travelling stunt artist and a political tourist in Manitoba,” Poilievre said in a phone interview with the Sun. “He has no connection to the people or the children of the community and he couldn’t care less about anybody in Portage-Lisgar. He would need a map just to find Winkler or Portage.”

At the Brandon school board’s May 23 meeting, the People’s Party of Canada leader made an appearance in support of a proposal to create a committee to review and ban books featuring LGBTQ+ content and other topics considered potentially inappropriate.

The board of trustees ended up voting 6-1 against the proposal.

Bernier said on “The Shadoe Davis Show” podcast ahead of the meeting he was attending to stand with parents pushing back against an attempt to teach “sex to young kids.”

On Friday, Poilievre was in Manitoba to campaign in Winnipeg South Centre, which has gone unrepresented in the House of Commons since Liberal MP Jim Carr died of cancer last December. The other byelection is in Portage-Lisgar, where Bernier is running in a bid to replace recently retired former CPC interim leader Candice Bergen.

Polievre said Bernier was a social liberal and a “woke politician” when the PPC leader was a member of Parliament who has flip-flopped on the eve of a byelection to try to get elected.

During a morning press conference in Winnipeg, Poilievre condemned recent anti-LGBTQ legislation in Uganda that would see people given the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and 20-year prison sentences for promoting homosexuality among other things.

When asked whether he’d march in any Pride parades, Poilievre instead talked about the values of choice and openness.

He said that for LGBTQ people, this includes “the freedom to marry, start a family, raise kids; freedom from bigotry and bashing; freedom to be judged by personal character, not by group identity; freedom to start a life and be judged on your merit.”

He also said Canada should continue to resettle LGBTQ refugees from abroad. His comments come as conservative groups in the U.S. take aim at LGBTQ people, such as by blocking access to gender-affirming care for transgender people or protesting drag queen performances.

In recent weeks, Poilievre has attacked the Liberals for introducing what he sees as a “second carbon tax.”

Changes to federal clean fuel regulations will mandate the suppliers of gasoline and diesel to limit the carbon intensity of their products effective July 1, 2023. The limit would then be lowered every year.

The Parliamentary Budget Office issued a report last month stating that these regulations would increase the price of gasoline by up to 17 cents a litre and diesel by 16 cents a litre by 2030, independently from carbon tax increases over the same period.

Poilievre said a private member’s bill put forward by Tory MP Ben Lobb, which would exempt fuel purchased for use on farms for things like grain drying, has reached the Senate but the Liberals are trying to delay its passage.

“That’s why when I’m prime minister, I’m forcing through that bill and axing the carbon tax altogether,” he said.

“(The carbon tax increases) will cripple farmers, factories and families. It will drive up the cost of heat, gas and groceries. It will bankrupt people and drive more people to the food bank.”

Earlier this year, Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa Conservative MP Dan Mazier and Brandon-Souris MP Larry Maguire both called for bail reform, saying it is too easy for repeat and violent offenders to obtain bail.

Their party’s leader said that, while the Conservatives have been able to make the Liberals reverse course on some of their policies, there’s still work left to be done.

“When crime becomes a habit for someone, then they shouldn’t get bail,” he said. “We’re not talking about a young guy who makes a mistake once in his life. Sure, give him a second chance to start over and be a good citizen. I’m talking about the people who are convicted 50, 60 times.”

While Poilievre said Canada has very few criminals, the criminals it does have “do a phenomenal amount of crime,” which he attributed to them being released too early and then reoffending.

Also visiting Manitoba on Friday was federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

“We want to win everywhere,” said Singh, who made no apologies for wanting to be the next prime minister.

“We want to make the case to Winnipeggers and to the people of Manitoba that if you want someone that’s going to fight for you, that’s on your side, that’s going to deliver real supports for you and your family, give your family a break, help you save money, that’s New Democrats. Conservatives want to cut services.”

Although meeting with Manitoba NDP officials wasn’t on Singh’s schedule for the day, the federal party leader said he does support them in the upcoming provincial election (Oct. 3).

In the byelections, the NDP is focused on health care. Singh said the federal government needs to transfer more health-care funding to the provinces.

Ottawa “hasn’t been doing its fair share for a long time, and there’s got to be strings attached, so that our public money actually goes to health care,” he said.

» cslark@brandonsun.com, with files from The Canadian Press

» Twitter: @ColinSlark