A former Conservative Senate leader is expressing concern about the direction Pierre Poilievre is taking the party, worrying the Tories might be reaching the point of “fracturing beyond repair.”
In an exclusive interview with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson, Marjory LeBreton said Conservative leadership candidates jumping on the “grievance brigade” is doing a “disservice” not only to the party but to the country.
On a more existential point for Conservatives, LeBreton – who served as an advisor to Stephen Harper and later his point person in the Senate – said she fears the relatively young coalition may not be able to hold together.
“I’m very, very worried … about what’s happening to the party and what’s happening during this leadership debate,” LeBreton said.
“I really fear that the great accommodation that was reached between (then Canadian Alliance Leader) Stephen Harper and (former Progressive Conservative Leader) Peter MacKay in the fall of 2003 is fracturing beyond repair.”
LeBreton was explicit about what caused her the most concern: members of the party embracing the convoy protests that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for weeks and blocked multiple Canada-U.S. border crossings.
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 they’re at the border crossing, a pipeline, a railway line, they’re illegal,” LeBreton said, referencing Conservative opposition to Indigenous rail blockades in early 2020.
Conservatives can’t say blockading the City of Ottawa is “okay, but it’s not okay for some other group to block a railroad.”
