Canada’s Conservatives Pick ‘Freedom Convoy’ Sympathizer to Lead Party Against Trudeau | Wall Street Journal - Paul Vieira:
September 10, 2022 "Canada’s Conservative Party picked as its new leader a politician who backed the paralyzing protests earlier this year against pandemic restrictions and vaccine mandates.... Pierre Poilievre was declared the winner Saturday, winning 68% from party members voting on the first ballot. Mr. Poilievre’s campaign said it signed up hundreds of thousands of new party members, drawn by his promises to reduce the role of the state in people’s lives and to roll back government spending and taxes that he says helped fuel inflation.
"Mr. Poilievre has frequently attacked the country’s establishment class and their appointed 'gatekeepers,' who he claims thwart entrepreneurship, stifle free speech and violate individual liberties. He also has appealed to younger voters, particularly those who can’t afford a home and are forced to rent or still live with their parents....
"Mr. Poilievre also has pledged to make Canada 'the freest country on Earth,' and repeal policies that he believes interfere with individual liberties. Mr. Poilievre was among the fiercest critics of the Trudeau administration’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates, which have since been lifted, and one of the few to back the Freedom Convoy, the protest led by truckers that paralyzed the Canadian capital for more than three weeks and inspired demonstrators to thwart traffic at key U.S.-Canada border crossings. Mr. Trudeau invoked rarely used emergency powers to help local police remove protesters in Ottawa.
"'After two years of massive government overreach and a prime minister who insults anyone who disagrees with his heavy-handed approach, Canadians have finally had enough and they’re speaking up,' Mr. Poilievre said in February on a podcast, at the height of the protest. 'The vast majority of truckers and their supporters have been peaceful, law-abiding, patriotic people, despite the dishonest propaganda' from the government and media."
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/canadas-conservatives-pick-freedom-convoy-sympathizer-to-lead-party-against-trudeau-11662855757
Statement from CUPE on Pierre Poilievre winning Conservative Party leadership | Canadian Union of Public Employees - Mark Hancock, National President:
September 10, 2022 - "Pierre has spent his leadership campaign making the Conservative Party a cozier place for far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists in order to sell memberships. This isn’t your parents’ Conservative Party, or even Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party. It’s now Pierre’s Convoy Party of Canada."
Read more: https://cupe.ca/statement-cupe-pierre-poilievre-winning-conservative-party-leadership
Canada: Who is new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre? | BBC News - Nadine Yousif:
September 12, 2022 - "Mr Poilievre, 43, campaigned on a promise to reduce taxes and to tackle inflation and the rising prices of food and petrol, and to increase individual liberties. He was also a vocal supporter of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa - an anti-government protest against Covid-19 mandates that shut down Ottawa's city centre for two weeks. The protest was eventually cleared by police after Mr Trudeau invoked the never before used Emergencies Act.... Mr Poilievre is now poised to take on Mr Trudeau, 50, who recently said he will be seeking re-election in Canada's next federal contest, expected in 2025....
"Poilievre has positioned himself as a politician from 'humble origins' - he was born to a teenage mother and adopted by two French Canadian teachers from Saskatchewan. He grew up in Calgary before moving to Ottawa, where he has been a federal Member of Parliament for the last 18 years, becoming the youngest member in the House of Commons at age 25 in 2004. Under Mr Harper's Conservative government, Mr Poilievre served as parliamentary secretary and was the minister of employment and social development. After the Conservatives' defeat to Mr Trudeau's Liberal party, Mr Poilievre became the opposition's shadow minister of finance.
"He has developed a reputation for hounding the Liberal party on government spending and other government scandals. Notably, he led a four-day filibuster in the House of Commons in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, an ethics scandal in which Mr Trudeau was accused of violating conflict of interest rules.
"Peter Loewen, the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, describes Mr Poilievre as 'ambitious, combative and endlessly energetic.' 'He has been the star of the Conservative movement for a number of years now,' Mr Loewen said."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62882751
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