Conservative leadership debate

Watch live as Tory candidates — Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest, Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Leslyn Lewis — take part in the first debate.

The French debate will take place in Laval, Que., on May 25. “Mayor Patrick Brown chose not to participate in today’s debate. “Would you unveil the names of your sources?” he asked a reporter who pressed him. “I went to lead a coalition in Quebec as a federalist when there was no Conservative Party of Quebec.” You did not speak up for the truckers,” she said. I was among one of the loudest voices.”

Trucker blockades dominate debate as Charest stood apart from other candidates for his criticism of convoy.

At $225,751, Ms. Lewis fell well short in the total cash raised but attracted far more donors than Mr. Charest with 1,456 people contributing to her campaign. In contrast, Charest and Brown are looking to shift closer to the centre to capture disaffected centrist minded voters.” In his opening statement, he decried vaccine mandates and inflation and pledged to defund the CBC. He was repeatedly forced to defend his blue credentials, with Mr. Poilievre suggesting Mr. Charest had temporarily donned a blue shirt “to take over the party.” The ranked ballot vote in the race means that candidates will need to rely on support from other camps if no one wins on the first ballot. So far, Mr. Poilievre has attracted the largest crowds and the most cash. Mr. Poilievre has said he won’t change Canada’s abortion laws. Mr. Charest dismissed the point saying: “This is not a student council.” But he also declined to answer and said his work helped release the two Michaels, who were arbitrarily detained in China. Following close behind is Mr. Charest, who raised $490,088 but from just 572 donors. “All we do is yell and scream at each other,” he said. The debate kicked off a critical four weeks for the candidates as they race to sign up members before the early June deadline. “You cannot make laws and break laws.”

OTTAWA - Conservative leadership contenders faced each other in debate for the first time at the Shaw Conference Centre in Ottawa as part of the Canad...

You’re not going to see that in your lifetime again.” — Charest on allegations that he is a Liberal. “I come from the former Soviet Union. I know what democracy is all about and I know how precious our democracy is. One thing that we have to be clear on, in the next campaign and the next leader, is that we welcome new Canadians. They are part of the family. “I did go to the trucker protests, both on Parliament Hill and in my community. In fact, I opposed the vaccine mandates as soon as they were announced.” — Pierre Poilievre on his opposition to COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates. So Let’s cool it down, turn it into liquid, send it overseas, sell it and turn dollars for dictators into paychecks for our people.” — Poilievre on his plan for natural gas production. He is going to have to deal with social Conservative issues, which he has been running from this entire campaign.” — Leslyn Lewis on her stance on abortion. And until we can work together as a team Canadians are not going to trust us.” — Scott Aitchison on why Conservatives lost the last few elections But those who were part of that campaign and proposed this idea need to account for that.” — Jean Charest on the Conservatives 2015 barbaric hotline campaign promise We have to work together as a team. We need to put together a principled Conservative platform that resonates with all Canadians in all parts of the country, and then we need to be consistent with that. Patrick Brown was the only candidate to miss the debate.