Jean Charest tried to make the case last night that he is the best person to lead the Conservative Party. Althia Raj writes:
The former Quebec premier and current Conservative leadership candidate hoped Wednesday’s third official debate would introduce him to more members and boost his chances of winning the party’s Sept. 10 contest, but his relatively calm performance may have failed to make the case that the perceived front-runner Pierre Poilievre, would be a disaster for the party and the country. It wasn’t until the final closing arguments — 25 minutes after a French exchange — that Charest got to the point.
He lambasted Poilievre — without naming him — for failing to show up and be accountable to members. He contrasted his values and numerous policy proposals — supporting law and order, introducing more private health care delivery and replacing the consumer carbon tax with a tax on large emitters — to his opponent’s offering.
“Anger is not a political program,” Charest noted. “A slogan isn’t going to do the job for us.”
Charest pointed to recent polls:
In a scrum following the roundtable exchange, Charest pointed to recent public opinion surveys by Ipsos and Angus Reid which suggest he has a better chance than Poilievre of winning across the country.
“There is a boulevard out there of Canadians who want a fiscally conservative government that’s going to have a real economic plan for the country,” Charest stated.
But what Charest failed to mention is that those polls also suggest the majority of Conservatives want Poilievre to lead them.
Charest finds himself in the same position that Donald Trump's challengers faced back in 2015. When a political party is taken over by the crazies, wisdom and common sense are locked away in the closet.
Image: The Toronto Star
