‘I’m very worried’: Former Conservative Senate leader on Poilievre, convoys and party’s future – National

A former Conservative Senate leader is worried about the direction Pierre Poilievre is taking in the party, fearing the Conservatives are reaching the point of “fracture themselves beyond repair”.

In an exclusive interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, Marjory LeBreton says Tory leadership candidates who jump on the ‘grievances squad’ are doing ‘a disservice’ not just to the party, but to the country.

On a more existential point for the Conservatives, LeBreton – who served as an adviser to Stephen Harper and later his Senate contact – said she fears the relatively young coalition cannot hold together.

“I’m very, very worried … about what’s happening to the party and what’s going on during this leadership debate,” LeBreton said.

“I am very concerned that the excellent compromise reached between (then Canadian Alliance leader) Stephen Harper and (former Progressive Conservative leader) Peter MacKay in the fall of 2003 will fracture beyond repair.

LeBreton was explicit about what worried her most: party members who embraced the convoy protests that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for weeks and blocked several border crossings between Canada and the United States. United.

The former senator said ‘law and order’ is a ‘cornerstone’ of modern conservative politics.

“And law and order is law and order. And illegal blockades are illegal blockades, whether it’s at the border crossing, at a pipeline, at a rail line, they’re illegal,” LeBreton said, referring to Conservative opposition to Indigenous rail blockades. at the beginning of 2020.

The Conservatives cannot say that blocking the city of Ottawa is “good, but it is not good that another group is blocking a railway”.

“The very idea of ​​destroying a cornerstone of conservatism in law and order… really, really upsets me.”

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Conservative MPs welcome convoy figures to Parliament Hill

LeBreton is one of the most prominent conservative figures to criticize her own party for joining the convoy protests, but she is by no means the only one. Multiple Conservative sources – both in the leadership campaigns and on the fringes – have expressed concern about MPs and the wider movement applauding what has been seen as an illegal “occupation” by the police.

But LeBreton has also known leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre — the big favorite to lead the party in the next election — for many years. She told Global News that she resigned from the Poilievre constituency board in Carleton over her repeated support of the convoy crew.

“You could easily tell this wasn’t going to end well,” said LeBreton, who said she felt like she no longer belonged in the Conservative Party she helped build.

Global News has requested an interview with the Poilievre campaign to respond to LeBreton’s comments. The campaign did not respond.

Even by the standards of Tory leadership races – the party has held three in the past five years – the current race has been seen as particularly bad. Poilievre has by no means had a monopoly on personal attacks, but his attacks on former Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown have been particularly pointed.

LeBreton – who has joined a conservative advocacy group called Center Ice Conservatives, which advocates for the party to take a “centre-right” stance – said the leadership race should focus less on the personal attacks.

“People want an alternative (to the Liberals in power) and we have a chance to provide them with an alternative,” said LeBreton, who noted that she is not working on any leadership campaign.

“We have to be eligible. We need to win an election to get all the issues we care about resolved. »