Conservative leadership contender Pierre Poilievre meets with supporters at the Conservative barbecue during the Calgary Stampede in Calgary on July 9.TODD KOROL/Reuters
Pierre Poilievre is skipping the third official debate on the leadership of the federal conservatives, which was announced on Thursday by the party in response to a positive vote of the members on the holding of this event.
Leslyn Lewis, another candidate in the Tory leadership race, expresses reservations about the debate, which is scheduled for next month, because she would prefer to spend time meeting with members.
Asked about the refusal of Mr. Poilievre to attend, party spokesman Yaroslav Baran pointed to a section of the party’s leadership campaign rules that says failure to participate in a party-sanctioned debate will result in an automatic penalty of $50,000, or whatever amount the party deems appropriate. leadership debate committee.
The campaign of Mr. Poilievre made his vision clear Thursday afternoon in a statement posted on Twitter that said the Ottawa-area MP’s sole focus is to get new and existing members to fill out and submit their ballots.
“Pierre will be back on the road, non-stop, to help make this happen,” said the statement tweeted by Jenni Byrne, a senior adviser to the Poilievre campaign.
The new leader will be announced on September 10, concluding a race that began when Erin O’Toole was voted in by her caucus in February.
In a statement, Ms. Lewis said he has planned a busy schedule to maximize the amount of Conservative members he can meet in person.
“I’m not sure what value we’re giving members through a hastily scheduled debate at this point,” the Ontario MP said.
He added that previous debates can be viewed online along with many videos of speeches and presentations that the candidates have released to convey their vision.
When asked if Ms. Lewis would attend, campaign manager Steve Outhouse said they are in discussions with the party about the issue.
There have been two previous official debates organized by the party’s leadership election organizing committee (LEOC). One was held on May 11 in Edmonton in English. On May 25, a debate was held in French in Laval, north of Montreal.
Last week, a statement LEOC chairman Ian Brodie sent to party members asked them to vote on holding a third debate aimed at newer Tories among the 675,000 members the party says it now has.
Mr. Brodie said the third debate will be held in a private studio without an audience, will be streamed live over the Internet and will allow the candidates to make their final statements to members.
On Thursday morning, the Conservative Party tweeted that 65 per cent of members voting on whether to hold a third debate had supported the idea, also noting that a total of 24,000 members voted against in the survey.
There are five candidates in the race, including Ontario MP Scott Aitchison, former Quebec premier Jean Charest and Roman Baber, a former Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario legislature.
Mr. Charest, Mr. Aitchison and Mr. Baber had called for the third debate, as had Patrick Brown, who has been disqualified from the leadership race over allegations of financial irregularities.
Poilievre’s campaign statement on Thursday slammed the May 11 Edmonton debate, denouncing the “stupid rules, the ‘game show’ format and the “useless questions” from moderator and former announcer Tom Clark , who was described as a “Laurentine elite liberal media personality”.
He also criticizes Mr. Charest for wanting another debate “to use Pierre’s popularity among members to get an audience he can’t get on his own.”
In response, the campaign of Mr. Charest said in a statement that the decision of Mr. Poilievre “is an act of disrespect and humiliation towards the party leadership to whom he is simply saying, ‘I’m going to buy my way out of a debate.'”
“Jean has always been committed to accountability to members. Our campaign fully supports LEOC’s decision to continue this debate.”
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