Quebec senator, out of Tory caucus, quits party after Poilievre win
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OTTAWA — A Quebec senator says Pierre Poilievre’s first week as Conservative chief has left him “snug” along with his determination to give up the celebration.
Sen. Jean-Man Dagenais had supported former Quebec premier Jean Charest within the current management race, and hasn’t sat within the Conservative senators caucus since 2019.
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He left whereas Andrew Scheer was nonetheless chief over considerations together with Scheer’s wrestle throughout that fall’s federal election marketing campaign to articulate his social conservative views round abortion.
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On Friday, Dagenais stated he determined to completely depart the celebration over the weekend following Poilievre’s huge victory by which he discovered widespread help in Quebec.
“It’s not my worth,” he stated in an interview Friday.
Dagenais stated he disagreed with Poilievre’s help of final winter’s trucker convoy in Ottawa in addition to his proposal to fireplace the governor of the Financial institution of Canada and minimize authorities funding to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Poilievre had been closely anticipated to win the competition, however nonetheless stunned some with the scale of his victory, which many — however not all — Conservatives consider will present the celebration with the unity it has lacked since shedding energy to the Liberals in 2015.
Poilievre campaigned on the central rallying cry of freedom — a message he believes all Conservatives, no matter their particular political pursuits, can help.
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Dagenais says watching Poilievre’s raucous first press convention with reporters this week affirmed his determination to depart, evaluating the efficiency to that of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Throughout the occasion, a reporter repeatedly shouted at Poilievre after being knowledgeable the brand new chief wouldn’t reply questions throughout his preliminary media look since successful the Conservative management. Poilievre finally agreed to take two questions.
“I bear in mind Mr. Trump,” Dagenais stated. “He doesn’t just like the media, he prefers to offer the data via social media.”
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He added: “I’m snug with my determination as a result of I can not help Mr. Poilievre.”
Dagenais additionally referred to as it “unacceptable” that the Conservative celebration despatched a textual content message to members within the Quebec driving of now-Impartial MP Alain Rayes, who additionally left the celebration after Poilievre’s victory.
The celebration has since apologized for sending the message, which inspired members to ask Rayes to resign.
In response, Rayes issued an announcement saying Canadians will determine for themselves what they consider the scenario, however that he’ll denounce all types of bullying.
Rayes additionally had labored to see Charest elected. The previous premier finally positioned a distant second to Poilievre, who acquired virtually 70 per cent of members’ help in comparison with Charest’s 16 per cent.
The departures of Dagenais and Rayes got here as Poillievre met this week with MPs and started appointing his picks to serve in some key celebration positions.
He loved the help of 62 of the celebration’s different 118 MPs through the race, lots of whom say they consider their caucus is united.
Dagenais says he considers himself to be a progressive conservative and feels others within the celebration who determine equally will even depart.
