OTTAWA — The Conservative party says six leadership candidates have cleared the final hurdles to getting their names on the ballot, while three others who did not make the cut are pushing back.
Pierre Poilievre, the bombastic Tory finance critic whose rallies have at times drawn thousands, and Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier who is appealing to more centrist Conservatives, are both candidates in the race to replace former leader Erin O’Toole.
So are Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ont., who is promoting religious freedom and making targeted promises to ethnic communities, and Leslyn Lewis, the socially conservative rural Ontario MP.
Scott Aitchison, the Ontario MP pledging to end supply management, and Roman Baber, the Independent Ontario MPP turfed from the Progressive Conservative caucus for his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns, also made the cut.
Candidates had to submit the full $300,000 required in registration fees and a compliance deposit, along with signatures from 500 party members, by last Friday to be verified.
These six candidates will square off in an English leadership debate on May 11 in Edmonton, moderated by former political journalist Tom Clark.
The two-hour debate will focus on candidates, the party says, adding that the debate committee’s mandate is to “educate, engage and energize Canadians” about the race.
The Conservatives will announce their new leader on Sept. 10.
Leona Alleslev, a former Ontario MP who joined the Conservatives in 2018 after crossing the floor from the Liberals, announced last week she was unable to raise the money needed in time.
British Columbia MP Marc Dalton, who like Alleslev had met an earlier registration deadline, also said he did not manage to secure the remaining amount of funding needed to get on the ballot.
Three others who had met the earlier threshold are questioning how and why the Conservative party did not verify their candidacies, while the party insists the decision had nothing to do with their political stances.
Joseph Bourgault, a businessman from rural Saskatchewan who supported the truck convoy that took over downtown Ottawa earlier this year, said Monday on Twitter that his team had submitted more than $367,000. “We are seeking clarification,” he wrote.
Joel Etienne, a former Conservative election candidate, said in a statement that his campaign is “preparing a formal protest” to the party after it had tried to submit the money and signatures required on Friday.
Grant Abraham, a consultant who ran as a candidate in Britain’s 2019 election, said in a statement that he is asking the Conservative party “for a detailed justification” of its choice to exclude him from the ballot, saying the money and signatures had been submitted.
However, the executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada said any prospective candidate who did not meet the requirements was informed of this fact and the reason why they did not meet the threshold.
“Final verification was based on the requirements set out under the rules, not any prospective candidate’s political beliefs,” Wayne Benson said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2022.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
