Four Conservative MPs want Jean Charest to enter party's leadership race
Four Conservative members of Parliament say they want former Quebec premier Jean Charest to enter the race for the party's leadership.
In an open letter published Tuesday, the MPs say Charest is the best person to defeat the Liberals and lead the relaunch of Canada's economy.
Charest, 63, became leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1993, after he was one of two MPs from that party elected while former prime minister Kim Campbell was dealt a humiliating electoral defeat.
Charest left federal politics in 1998 and became leader of Quebec Liberal Party. He was premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012, when his party was defeated in an early election he called following massive student protests.
Since leaving politics, Charest has practiced law, and has also been the subject of a multi-year investigation by Quebec's anti-corruption police related to financing of the Quebec Liberal Party.
Pierre Poilievre, an Ottawa-area member of Parliament, is the only confirmed candidate in the race for the Conservative leadership
The letter was signed by Quebec MPs Alain Rayes and Dominique Vien; Nova Scotia MP Rick Perkins; Ontario MP John Nater; New Brunswick Senator Percy Mockler; former MP David Sweet; Louis Leger, chief of staff to the premier of New Brunswick; and Leo Power, a former director of the Conservative Party's fundraising arm.
Opinion: Canada needs you, Mr. Charest
Mr. Charest,
The current leadership race for the Conservative Party of Canada boils down to one fundamental question: who is the best person to defeat the federal Liberal Party and offer our country a leader who will revive our economy and govern with experience and determination under the Conservative banner?
Your record, even before becoming Premier of Quebec, was already very impressive.
Your 28 years of experience in active politics makes you the right person to take the reins of the Conservative Party and the Government of Canada.
Your resilience is unflinching. The youngest minister in Canadian history at the age of 28, you were one of Brian Mulroney’s most trusted ministers.
Your competence and versatility quickly led you to many key positions as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Environment, Deputy Leader, Minister for Fitness and Amateur Sport, Minister for Youth and Assistant Deputy Speaker in the House of Commons.
Mr. Mulroney has also asked you to take on several important mandates.
An excellent example is the key role you played at the Rio Conference on the Environment.
Your unifying leadership also made it possible, as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, to increase the number of seats from two to 20, demonstrating your effectiveness in a pan-Canadian campaign.
You also initiated the creation of the Council of the Federation and you led the Premiers of Canada’s provinces in negotiating, in 2004, a national health care agreement that recognized the principle of asymmetrical federalism for Quebec and all of Canada.
Your reputation in international trade relations is second to none.
The free trade agreement negotiated between Canada and the European Union (CETA) was your initiative.
Your vast network of contacts is a testament to your influence and to the great respect shown to you by your peers around the world.
You also have extensive experience in economic crisis management, which would be critically important for Canada in this period of great uncertainty.
No other Canadian has a track record as extensive as yours in both the public and private sectors.
You are tailor-made to lead the Canadian people out of the crisis that we are currently going through with COVID-19.
Your ability to lead our country would be in stark contrast to the current federal Liberal government.
Our country badly needs an experienced leader like you to deal with our economic challenges.
We need a seasoned, visionary and unifying politician to curb the division and chaos caused by the federal Liberals.
We need someone who is able to unite our party and rally a majority of Canadians in both official languages.
Mr. Charest, Canada needs you.
Justin Trudeau has led our country into a deep division. His government has failed in its duty to unite our country.
On the economic front and on the management of public finances, Justin Trudeau’s record is disastrous.
Our children and grandchildren will long pay for the damage caused by the federal Liberals over the past six years.
Mr. Trudeau had inherited a more than enviable position, a budget surplus thanks to the responsible management of the previous government led by Stephen Harper.
We are appealing today to your sense of duty in order to turn the tide, unite our country and restore our place on the international stage.
It’s clear from all the above and more, that there is only one person whom we believe is suited for this very important role.
Mr. Charest, please give this your utmost consideration.
- Alain Rayes, Québec, MP for Richmond-Arthabaska
- Rick Perkins, Nova Scotia, MP for South Shore—St. Margarets
- Percy Mockler, New Brunswick, Senator
- David Sweet, Ontario, Former MP and Caucus Chair
- Louis Leger, New Brunswick, Chief of staff, Office of the Premier of New Brunswick
- Dominique Vien, Québec, MP for Bellechasse-Les Etchemins- Lévis
- John Nater, Ontario, MP for Perth—Wellington
- Leo Power, Newfoundland and Labrador, Former director, Conservative Fund Canada
'Little coalition' of Charest and Brown spar with Poilievre
Politics Insider for May 26: Unpacking the French CPC debate; concerns over Poilievre's campaign; and a threat to Quebec's secularism bill
Candidates Roman Baber, left, Pierre Poilievre and Jean Charest, right, take part in the French language Conservative Leadership debate Wednesday, May 25, 2022 in Laval, Que. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
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Last night’s CPC French debate in Laval was a three-way brawl, with Jean Charest and Patrick Brown tag-teaming Pierre Poilievre, who referred to them as a “little coalition,” the Postreports. The other candidates — Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber and Leslyn Lewis— said little, likely because they were unable to speak in French without reading notes. It was a raucous affair, with personal attacks and lots of noise from the crowd.
Audience members were asked to avoid clapping and cheering, otherwise the moderator would take time off of their candidate’s speaking time. But the crowd, who was favourable to both Charest and Poilievre, ignored the instruction and at times stole the show, chanting, clapping or even booing so loudly that moderator Marc-Olivier Fortin regularly paused the debate to ask them to quiet down.
Worried about Poilievre: In the Star, Susan Delacourtwrites that Poilievre’s approach to the leadership race is taking a Trumpian tone, conspiratorial and disrespectful of democracy and the media.
I am, to be candid, worried that Poilievre won’t be able to stop himself from whipping up suspicion about why Conservatives have been losing elections — it being far easier to blame a rigged system than the party’s own internal problems.
Poilievre ahead: Abacus has a polling report showing Poilievre’s negatives are up, but he still appears to have a commanding lead in the race.
Challenging 21: David Lametti announced on Wednesday that Ottawa plans to participate in a Supreme Court challenge of Quebec’s secularism Bill 21, angering François Legault, La Pressereports. (translation)
https://twitter.com/CBCNews/status/1534294295947141121
https://twitter.com/chisholmp/status/1534266168726503425
Brown says he won't run for the Conservatives if Poilievre wins the leadership
'I just don't believe he could win seats in the GTA,' Brampton mayor says of his leadership rival
In an interview with CBC's Power & Politics, Brown said he's confident he can win the leadership but, if he falls short, he'd also consider running under the party banner in the next election if former Quebec premier Jean Charest or MP Leslyn Lewis wins the leadership.
Brown said it's not his personal opinion of Poilievre that would keep him from running under his leadership — even though the two candidates have attacked each other verbally throughout the campaign. He said he's convinced Poilievre would tank the party's fortunes in the Greater Toronto Area.
"I could run under them, absolutely. They have the capacity to win the next general election," Brown said of Charest and Lewis.
"With Pierre Poilievre, I just don't believe he could win seats in the GTA. I think his message is too divisive. Even as a popular mayor in the GTA, I don't think I could win a seat with a leader like him. So, for me, following the federal route with Pierre wouldn't make much sense."
Brown said that if Poilievre wins, he would consider staying in his current job as mayor of Brampton, a city of about 600,000 west of Toronto.
The deadline to file paperwork for a re-election bid in that municipality is Aug. 19 — weeks before the Conservative leadership election results will be known in early September.
Brown didn't say why exactly he sees Poilievre undermining the Conservative vote in the Toronto area. The mayor previously has cited Poilievre's past support for a niqab ban at citizenship ceremonies and a "barbaric cultural practices" tip line as an election liabilities in the vote-rich region.
Brown questions Poilievre's numbers
Brown also said Thursday he doesn't trust some of the membership figures the Poilievre campaign has released.
Poilievre's team said last weekend that they had sold more than 310,000 new memberships — an eye-popping number that his campaign said indicates their candidate can win on the first ballot.
Brown said Thursday he sold more than 150,000 memberships before the June 3 deadline.
The Conservative Party has said there are roughly 600,000 members eligible to vote in this leadership election — a number that may be adjusted after the party completes a verification process to weed out any duplicates.
Poilievre, left, and Brown share an exchange during the Conservative Party's French-language leadership debate in Laval, Que., on May 25. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
There were already roughly 140,000 Conservative members in good standing when the race started. If Poilievre signed up 310,000 members and Brown convinced 150,000 more to join the party, the mayor said, that means the campaigns led by Charest, Lewis, Independent MPP Roman Baber and MP Scott Aitichison sold few, if any, memberships.
"If Pierre Poilievre's claims are true, essentially no one else has sold memberships," he said. "I think the other campaigns ran robust campaigns so, clearly, there's a disconnect with the claims the Poilievre campaign has made."
Brown said that to address these competing membership sales figures, the party should release a membership list to all the campaigns now.
"It's only fair to have the list out so we know where everyone stands," Brown said.
Brown said the Poilievre campaign has tried to block that move.
'Scorched-earth approach'
"If they were that confident in that campaign and they actually did sell the memberships they claimed to, they wouldn't be as worried as they are. They continue to take a scorched-earth approach to our candidates and that doesn't speak to the confidence of a presumed front-runner," Brown said.
Jenni Byrne, a former senior adviser to ex-prime Stephen Harper and a senior official with the Poilievre campaign, said it would be "completely against the rules" to release a list of members before it has been verified by party officials. She also said Brown isn't being truthful about his membership figures.
"If he did sell 150,000 memberships, release the exact number," Byrne said in an interview with CTV this week. "What Patrick Brown is doing is what he does best, which is lie."
Ian Brodie is the chair of the party's leadership election organizing committee (LEOC), the body that is running this leadership race. He said Thursday the party will produce an interim voters' list in about a month's time — a list the campaigns can use to reach out to members to convince them to vote for a particular candidate.
Brodie said the party will then send each of the campaigns a final voters' list by July 29.
"In order to be fair to all of the campaigns that are in this race, I have to follow the party's rules," Brodie told Power & Politics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
2 Conservative MPs switch allegiance from Patrick Brown to Pierre Poilievre
The departures mean Brampton, Ont. Mayor Patrick Brown has only two MPs backing his candidacy
Hamilton-area MP Dan Muys and MP Kyle Seeback, who represents neighbouring Dufferin-Caledon in the House of Commons, both announced Tuesday they're abandoning Brown for Poilievre. Their departures come after Poilievre's campaign said over the weekend that it has sold an eye-popping 312,000 memberships in the race for the party's top job.
Conservative sources told CBC News that roughly 600,000 party members will be eligible to vote in September's leadership election.
A Poilievre campaign source — who spoke to CBC News on the condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to speak publicly — said the team is confident Poilievre can win the race on the first ballot given how many memberships he's sold so far.
The party has not confirmed any of the membership sales figures released by the campaigns.
Brown's team said Friday the mayor had sold over 150,000 memberships. Former Quebec premier Jean Charest also said he's convinced enough people in key ridings to take out memberships to allow him to win the race. The party allocates points to all 338 federal ridings and candidates are assigned a point total depending on their percentage of the vote in each riding.
MPs say Poilievre best choice to unite the party
Despite competing claims of membership sales strength, Seeback and Muys signalled Tuesday they believe the winner is already known.
In a statement on social media, Seeback said he "believes there's one candidate ... who can unite conservatives and Canadians to become our next prime minister. That's Pierre Poilievre."
Muys, a rookie MP who was first elected to the Commons last fall, said Seeback "is right."
Muys said that while out campaigning with Ontario Progressive Conservative candidates during the recent provincial election campaign, he witnessed "divisiveness" and he suggested that the best way to heal those divisions is to "unify behind Pierre Poilievre."
"Canada needs him and us to get this done," Muys said.
WATCH: Interim Conservative leader: 'I have no doubt that once the race is over, we will all come together'
The two departures have dealt a blow to Brown. Just two sitting MPs now support the mayor's candidacy: Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner and MP Doug Shipley, who represents Barrie, Ont., the area Brown used to represent in the Commons.
Poilievre has 56 sitting MPs supporting his leadership bid. Charest has been endorsed by 16 MPs.
Chisholm Pothier, a spokesperson for Brown, told CBC News the mayor is "very confident" that he can win the race.
"We like where we're at, we like our numbers and there's a weird lack of confidence coming from the Poilievre camp with their over-the-top attacks," Pothier said, citing some of the social media squabbling that has become a hallmark of this race.
"This isn't a game for the faint of heart. An endorsement from anyone and two bucks gets you a cup of coffee and one vote. We just lost two votes. We'll make them up somewhere else," he said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Charest, Poilievre fight for N.B. support in leadership race
Charest touring province this week, Poilievre was in N.B. last month
mThe self-described underdog in the federal Conservative leadership race is making his first campaign foray in New Brunswick this week, trying to catch up to frontrunner Pierre Poilievre.
Jean Charest had stops in Saint John, Fredericton and Bathurst over the last two days and will move on to Neguac and Moncton Tuesday and Wednesday, with a side trip to Prince Edward Island in between.
He's banking on his links to New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives who remember him as one half of the two-MP federal PC caucus from 1993 to 1997 along with then-Saint John MP Elsie Wayne.
"New Brunswick in particular, it's a part of the country I know very well, and people know me very well, and that's significant," he said.
Charest with former N.B. premier David Alward, one of several prominent Progressive Conservatives who attended the Fredericton event. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
But Charest's crowds, including a group of about 30 Tories at a meet-and-greet in Fredericton on Monday morning, are far smaller than the ones Poilievre has been drawing.
Miramichi-Grand Lake MP Jake Stewart, a Poilievre supporter, says the Ottawa-area MP drew a total of 800 people at three New Brunswick events in a single day in March, despite freezing rain and poor driving conditions.
"He's so popular he seems to resonate with everybody," Stewart says, dismissing Charest's argument that he's the only leader who can win a general election.
"I think there's a belief out there, an old ingrained-in belief that, you know, we need a certain thing and I just don't think that holds true anymore," Stewart says.
"Pierre's policies are very sound and the people that like them, love them. And I've found in New Brunswick that his support is through the roof."
Charest and Poilievre are scooping up most of the endorsements from New Brunswick Tories, though Tobique-Mactaquac MP Richard Bragdon is backing Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis.
Pierre Poilievre meets with supporters during his N.B. campaign tour in March. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Nine candidates are running for the party leadership.
Besides being a former federal PC cabinet minister and party leader, Charest was also the Liberal premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012.
Among the provincial PCs who attended his Fredericton event on Monday were former premier David Alward and Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy.
"After talking to him today, I signed up to support him," Cardy said after the event.
Premier Blaine Higgs met with Charest on Sunday and also put in an appearance at a Poilievre event in March. His spokesperson said he had not endorsed any candidate, though Higgs's chief of staff Louis Léger is a key Charest organizer.
Miramichi-Grand Lake Conservative MP Jake Stewart (right) and Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre (centre) posed for photos with truckers on Jan. 29. Charest is criticizing Poilievre's support for the Ottawa trucker blockade. (Jake Stewart/Twitter)
All the campaigns are racing to sign up members before the cut-off date of June 3.
Stewart says it's likely Poilievre will be back in New Brunswick at least once before the deadline.
On Monday, Charest repeated his criticism of Poilievre for supporting the trucker blockade of Ottawa early this year, saying a prime minister can't choose which laws he's going to support.
But he acknowledged in an interview with CBC News that he's the underdog at this point in the race.
He said he's "perfectly comfortable" in that position because the frontrunner in the last two Conservative leadership races ended up losing because of the party's preferential voting system.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hon. Blaine Higgs
- Premier
- President of the Executive Council
- Minister responsible for Intergovernmental Affairs
Blaine Higgs, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Quispamsis, was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. In 1993, he completed the Executive Management Training Program at Queen’s University. He also has taken courses in finance in 2003, and Leadership and Influence at Babson Executive Training and Education in 2006.
Immediately following university, Mr. Higgs joined Irving Oil Limited in Saint John, New Brunswick, where he held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in engineering, refining operations and in the transportation sector. Prior to retirement in May 2010, he was Director of Logistics and Distribution, with overall responsibility for the transportation and bulk storage requirements for the reliable supply of refined products to customers throughout Eastern Canada and New England.
He was a member of the Irving team negotiating with Repsol on the Canaport LNG project. He also served on the Board of Directors for Canaport LNG and the New Brunswick Gateway Council.
First elected to the Legislative Assembly on September 27, 2010, he represents the riding of Quispamsis. On October 12, 2010, he was sworn-in as Minister of Finance, Minister responsible for the New Brunswick Liquor Corporation, Minister responsible for the New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation, Minister responsible for the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation, and Chair of the Board of Management. He also served as Minister of Human Resources until October 9, 2012.
Mr. Higgs was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly on September 22, 2014, as MLA for Quispamsis. In 2016 he was elected Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. On September 24, 2018, was elected for a third term as the MLA for Quispamsis. On November 9th, 2018 he formed the first minority government in 100 years and became the 34th Premier of New Brunswick. On September 14th, 2020, Premier Higgs was elected for a fourth term and formed a majority government, becoming the first Premier since Premier Bernard Lord to secure a second mandate from the people of New Brunswick.
He has traveled extensively for business and pleasure. The insight learned through this interaction with different cultures provides him with a real appreciation for the challenges that New Brunswick faces in the global economy.
Mr. Higgs has been a resident of Quispamsis for over 40 years, and a long-standing member of Kennebecasis Baptist Church. He and Marcia were married in 1978 and have four daughters: Lindsey, Laura (Reid Gilmore), Sarah (Jeff Wilkinson) and Rachel (Matthew Hiltz). They are also blessed with 4 grandchildren, Nadia, Alexander, Samuel and Sadie. They all enjoy spending time in the country and pursuing many outdoor activities, such as swimming, boating, skiing, snowmobiling, and fishing.
Louis Leger
Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister, Office of the Premier of New Brunswick, Blaine Higgs
Louis was appointed Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister, Office of the Premier of New Brunswick in December 2018.
He is a passionate entrepreneur who started in business in his early twenties. For twenty years, he was at the centre of the Atlantic Canadian marketing-communications industry and was recognized by Progress Magazine as one of Atlantic Canada’s top 50 CEOs. He has been a member of YPO since 2007.
He’s a past Board Director and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Donald J. Savoie Institute on Public Policy Research. He served as a member of l’Université de Moncton Board of Governors, Chair of the 2011 Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, Chair of Downtown Moncton Centreville Inc, and he proposed and shepherded the creation of the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation for children in need, for which he received Queen Elizabeth II‘s Diamond Jubilee Medal.
He also served as Executive Director of the New England Governors and Eastern Premiers Conference on Energy for the 21st Century, and as Executive Director of FORUMe: Evolving Social Values, Natural Resources and the Economy co-presented by UNB and l’Université de Moncton in 2012. He also received the Gilbert Finn award for leadership from le Conseil Économique du Nouveau-Brunswick.
He has a BA with a concentration in Political Science from l’Université de Moncton and a Leadership Certificate from Queen’s (Smith) School of Business. He is a proud husband and father of four young adults.
Hand-picked Higgs officials living outside Fredericton cost taxpayers extra
1 deputy got help with Fredericton housing and for drives to 24 meetings in Saint John area, where she lived
John Logan, who lives in Saint John and heads the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, billed the province $9,219.08 for 85 overnight stays in Fredericton in 2020 to attend to business at department headquarters, according to his public expense records.
In a statement, Nicolle Carlin, director of communications for Premier Blaine Higgs, said Logan regularly works in Fredericton, where his job is headquartered, but often chooses not to commute home at the end of the day.
"John Logan works mostly out of the Fredericton office," said the statement. "When he's in Fredericton, he usually stays in the city for more than a day."
Yennah Hurley, a deputy minister who runs the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, owns a home in Quispamsis.
New Brunswick government officials have largely switched to online meetings since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, including Higgs, shown here last week speaking with the New Brunswick Nurses Union online from his office last week. (Government of New Brunswick's Twitter)
Hurley was paid $9,550 to offset Fredericton accommodation expenses in 2020 but also billed over $900 in mileage charges for 24 trips she made up and down Highway 7 to attend meetings close to her home in Saint John.
The Saint John meetings were eight times more than the number in any other location Hurley visited outside of her office in Fredericton, but her department insists the charges were for legitimate government business.
These were expenses for meetings related to the duties of the acting Deputy Minister at the time," Erika Jutras, the department's acting communications director, said in an email about the Saint John meetings.
Jutras dismissed questions about whether holding so many meetings in Saint John and submitting expense claims for them could be seen as an attempt to have the province subsidize Hurley's commute between Fredericton and her home in Quispamsis.
The expense reports do show the largest number of the Saint John meetings, 11, are dated as happening on a Friday and most occurred after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, when many government gatherings moved online.
Hurley and Logan are among at least four senior officials hand-picked by Higgs to serve in key government roles who have not moved to Fredericton and whose expense accounts have included a variety of enhanced charges as a result.
Paul D'Astous is principal secretary to Higgs. He owns a home in Quispamsis and for most of 2020 received a $955 monthly 'living allowance,' one of four senior Higgs government officials paid extra to subsidize the cost of working, but not living, in Fredericton. (CBC archives)
In similar but separate arrangements, the premier's chief of staff and deputy minister, Louis Léger, and his principal secretary, Paul D'Astous, were paid the same $955 monthly "living allowance" as Hurley through much of 2020 to defray costs of staying in Fredericton without the requirement to provide receipts.
D'Astous, like Hurley, maintains a home in Quispamsis, while Léger has a residence in Sainte-Marie-de-Kent. Logan, who once served with Higgs as an executive at Irving Oil, lives in Saint John.
Earlier this month, Higgs told CBC News that Hurley no longer qualifies for the living allowance since being named the permanent deputy minister of her department in December. Carlin said D'Astous also no longer qualifies after recently signing a new employment contract.
Louis Léger, chief of staff in the Premier's Office, has a home in Sainte-Marie-de-Kent. (CBC)
Logan does still qualify for payment of his Fredericton living expenses as does Léger, which Carlin said has been the case for previous chiefs of staff..
"Mr. Leger's position is not a permanent position with the civil service," said a statement issued by Carlin.
"It is a job with a fixed time limit, and therefore most people who accept such a position would not move their home and family."
How to Create a Winning Conservative Climate Plan
An online forum hosted by Clean Prosperity
March 16, 2021 • 11:30 am – 1:00 pm (EST)
The upcoming federal election will be fought on climate and environment policy, amongst other key issues. Canadian voters want their provincial and national governments to take decisive action in this area.
How can the Conservative Party of Canada develop a winning climate plan, and what policies should be included?
On March 16, Clean Prosperity hosted an online policy forum where senior policy and decision-makers from across Canada shared their insights on why the climate file is so important for the party, and what should be done about it.
Featuring
in alphabetical order
Ken Boessenkool
J.W. McConnell Professor of Practice at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University; former Senior Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chief of Staff to BC Premier Christy Clark
Read more about Ken Boessenkool
Christy Clark
Senior Adviser, Bennett Jones; former Premier of British Columbia
Read more about Christy Clark
Mitch Davidson
Executive Director, StrategyCorp Institute of Public Policy and the Economy; former Head of Policy to Ontario Premier Doug Ford
Read more about Mitch Davidson
Louis Leger
Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister, Office of the Premier of New Brunswick, Blaine Higgs
Read more about Louis Leger
Hon. Lisa Raitt, P.C.
Vice-Chair, Global Investment Banking, CIBC Capital Markets; former Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition
Read more about Hon. Lisa Raitt, P.C.
Moderated by
Michael Bernstein
Executive Director, Clean Prosperity
Read more about Michael Bernstein
Liberal Climate Plan Has Reasonable Chance of Meeting 2030 Target
“Our modelling shows that the Liberals’ climate policies give them a reasonable chance of achieving their Paris Agreement target. But getting there will be no easy feat. It’s critical that the Liberals implement their policies quickly and prioritize them intelligently.”
Clean Prosperity Executive Director Michael Bernstein
"The only bilingual province in the country, New Brunswick did not send any elected official to the most recent meeting of federal and provincial ministers of la Francophonie. Instead, Premier Higgs' chief of staff, Louis Léger, represented the province."La présence du chef de cabinet du PM à une rencontre ministérielle fait sourciller
Le Nouveau-Brunswick était la seule province qui n'était pas représentée par un élu à la plus récente réunion des ministres de la Francophonie. Photo : Radio-Canada
Seule province bilingue au pays, le Nouveau-Brunswick n'a envoyé aucun élu à la plus récente réunion des ministres fédéral et provinciaux de la Francophonie.
C'est plutôt le chef de cabinet du premier ministre Higgs, Louis Léger, qui a représenté la province.
Il y a peu de ministres francophones dans le cabinet de Blaine Higgs et son chef de cabinet Louis Léger agit quelquefois à titre de représentant francophone pour le gouvernement. Photo : Radio-Canada
Le ministre néo-brunswickois responsable de la Francophonie, Glen Savoie, n'a pas pu participer à la dernière réunion nationale des ministres de la Francophonie, qui se tenait par vidéoconférence.
Il a annoncé récemment qu'il souffrait d'un cancer.
Une présence dénoncée par l'opposition
On sait que le ministre responsable, il est malade. Ça, il n’y a pas de problème, évidemment; ça, c'est très justifiable. Ce qui est moins justifiable, c'est pourquoi il n’y a pas eu un autre élu. Il y a d'autres gens qui parlent français au sein de la députation conservatrice actuelle du gouvernement
, expose le député libéral de Kent-Sud Benoît Bourque.
Benoît Bourque, député libéral de Kent-Sud est porte-parole de l'opposition en matière de francophonie.
Photo : Radio-Canada
Par courriel, une agente de communication a dit que la province avait été très bien représentée, et que c'était normal de mandater un fonctionnaire pour remplir le rôle d'un élu.
« Je ne pense pas que ce soit normal, c'est une réunion de ministres, on doit envoyer un ministre qui est à la fois élu et nommé par le premier ministre. »
Le député vert Kevin Arseneau a également sourcillé face à cette représentation hors de l’ordinaire.
Kevin Arseneau, député vert de Kent-Nord, a même offert de représenter le gouvernement à cette rencontre. Photo : Radio-Canada
C'est tout à fait inacceptable qu'on n’envoie pas un élu à une telle réunion, puis malheureusement, ce n'est pas la première fois
, souligne-t-il.
Selon lui, cela montre le peu d'importance accordée à la francophonie par le gouvernement Higgs.
« Ça ne fait pas sérieux qu'on n’envoie personne, ça démontre vraiment que c'est un enjeu secondaire... même pas secondaire, parce qu'on n’y accorde aucune importance. »
Kevin Arseneau a même offert de représenter la province s’il n’était pas possible de trouver un élu du Parti conservateur pour y aller.
Selon Benoît Bourque, le fait que le Nouveau-Brunswick soit la seule province officiellement bilingue au pays rend la situation encore plus inacceptable.
Ça prouve encore une fois le dédain de ce gouvernement pour les langues officielles, l'importance du français au sein de cette province
, croit M. Bourque.
Lors de la rencontre nationale des ministres de la Francophonie, il a été question, entre autres, de l'importance d'offrir des services en français en santé mentale, dans les soins aux personnes âgées, et de favoriser l'immigration francophone.
Nous avons tenté d'obtenir des explications du premier ministre, mais en vain.
D’après un reportage de Michel Corriveau