SUDBURY - A small group of people gathered outside the Radisson Hotel on Wednesday night to protest Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Inside, a room was packed with people to hear Poilievre espouse what he believes to be his party’s virtues and Liberal shortcomings in what was mostly a retread of past rallies’ materials.
Outside, protesters held signs reading: “No security clearance? What are you hiding?” “Social workers against Poilievre” and “PP will sell Canada.”
Organized by Miss Stacy Woods, a local drag queen and Sudbury representative for Drag The Vote, and community activist Melissa Wood, the protesters aimed to send their message to Poilievre.
The protest came together quickly that morning, Woods told Sudbury.com.
It offered a chance for conversation, she said, should anyone attending the rally want to discuss what she described as misinformation.
“If you have questions about social policies, I can help,” she said. “I can tell you that most of what they are saying in there, it’s all bulls–t.”
Though no one stopped to talk, there were plenty of honks from passing cars, which got a big cheer from the protesters.
While largely a retread of things he'd said before, Poilievre made few tweaks to Wednesday's remarks to keep up with the news cycle, including fresh criticism of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was sworn in last week. Poilievre blamed Carney for Brookfield Asset Management's head office shifting from Toronto to New York. Carney, who until January served as Brookfield chairperson, has downplayed his role in this decision.
Poilievre blamed Liberals for crime rates, housing prices and life's general unaffordability.
The Conservative leader reiterated his “axe the tax” slogan of past rallies, noting that although Carney brought the consumer carbon tax down to zero on his first day in office, he didn’t repeal the legislation.
The missing context from Poilievre’s remarks is that repealing the legislation requires a vote in Parliament, and Parliament is currently prorogued, as it has been since Carney was sworn in as prime minister.
On the "axe the tax" front, Poilievre also pledged to repeal the industrial price for heavy emitters, which Carney has said Liberals would retain.
Another popular slogan which permeated through much of Poilievre’s rally was “boots not suits,” which the Conservative leader used to dismiss what he described as excess bureaucracy at the federal level and the need for more young people entering the trades.
“These are the people that get it done, the folks who know how to dig stuff, build stuff, fix stuff and make stuff,” he said.
Another popular slogan during the event was “Canada first,” which Poilievre used to promote such things as shoring up the Canadian economy and slashing foreign aid.
Poilievre pledged to “rapidly approve” resource extraction efforts, introduce tough on crime legislation (including those who market deadly volumes of lethal drugs, who he said should be “locked up for life”), secure the borders, build up the military and bring back statues (“Celebrate John A. Macdonald and not only the man, but the vision of a great east-west nation”).
During Wednesday’s rally, Sudbury East – Manitoulin – Nickel Belt Conservative candidate Jim Bélanger introduced himself, and Sudbury Conservative candidate Ian Symington expressed confidence that Sudbury would get its first Conservative MP in 104 years.
Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, introduced him as “a strong leader who’s going to stand up and fight for us.”
A full video of Wednesday’s Poilievre rally is available by clicking here.
Earlier in the day, Poilievre held a media conference at Pioneer Construction in Sudbury, where he announced that, if elected, he’d get the Ring of Fire mining development in Northern Ontario green-lit within six months and contribute $1 billion in federal funding to build an access road.
