“Freedom” is the clarion call from Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre. ‘“Freedom’ from what?” you ask. And now we know. Poilievre had promised his followers in the protest convoy, that came to Ottawa this past winter, that he will put an end to government vaccine mandates. He even presented a bill to parliament the other day to do just that. It is not likely to pass.
But it will be interesting to see who in parliament supports the bill. Up to this point, Poilievre was believed to have the largest share of conservative caucus support. This will be the public test of their support. Just how many conservatives will want to align themselves with their fellow MP on this, is the question?
In a parliament controlled by the liberal/NDP agreement, the bill is not going to pass anyway. Poilievre has challenged his own support. A few might find a believable excuse to be absent but for the rest, it is decision time.
And maybe Poilievre can win the leadership without federal caucus support. Selling more than 300,000 memberships in the conservative party does not guarantee a win but it sure gives you a leg up. How that number spreads out over 338, supposedly equal, electoral districts is the next question?
But it also poses a problem for Brampton’s own Patrick Brown. As the stalking horse for retread conservative Jean Charest, Brown needed to be the third candidate when the race came down to just Poilievre, Charest and Brown. While it is understood that Brown as a stalking horse was bringing all those votes to Jean Charest as second choice, that might not work with the way the conservatives count their ballots.
The first problem is that Brown has collected fewer new sign-ups than Poilievre. While 150,000 is not to be sneezed at, it is only half as much as Poilievre. And Brown’s South Asian diaspora contacts are largely urban while Poilievre’s extremists would be more equally spread between urban and rural. The conservative party managers are already admitting that the normal 250,000 membership of the Conservative Party of Canada is liable to exceed 700,000 when all the new memberships are counted. The good news in Ottawa is that the conservative party is hiring additional summer staff.
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