If the federal Liberal government rides out its full minority mandate, it’s almost three years until the next election.
The campaign was on Wednesday night in Timmins, when Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre held an in-the-round town hall for party faithful. Surrounded by a couple hundred of them, he commented that it was his third time in Timmins in less a year.
“I’m told that I’m seen more in Timmins than your local MP, Charlie Angus,” he quipped, to applause from the audience.
The Opposition leader said Angus is too busy hanging out with his friend, Pierre Trudeau… whose tactic is to divide and conquer.
“You ever hear him say anything good about this country?” he asked about Trudeau. “Jeez, you’d think he’d be more excited about the nation he’s led for seven years. But instead, all he does is make excuses and blame other people for the way things are going wrong in his own country.”
Poilievre said as the next prime minister, he would turn hurt into hope, and defend northern communities by axing the carbon tax. He said Angus wants to triple the tax.
“What does he expect people – how many of you here drove in an electric car to get here?” he asked, eliciting laughter from the gathering. “Could you get around Timmins-James Bay in an electric car? (scattered answers of ‘no’ from the audience).”
While the minority Liberal government could fall at any time the next election date is as late as October 20th, 2025.
At least two unconfirmed candidates for the nomination to run for the Timmins-James Bay Conservatives in the next election were in the Wednesday night crowd.