Tories act as their own worst enemy

At least some of the candidates running to become the next leader of the federal Conservative party are unfit for the job. At least some of them tell lies, support illegal activities and have been tainted by scandal. But if all this sounds bad, take note these allegations aren’t currently coming from the Tories’ political foes or even their harshest media critics. Far from it — they’re just a sampling of the verbal grenades Conservative leadership candidates were tossing at each other during an explosive debate in Ottawa last week. They have met the enemy — and strangely enough it seems to be themselves.

Before they take this foolishness any further, these would-be leaders and prime minister wannabes should proceed with extreme caution. Politicians who live by flinging muck tend to end up with dirty faces. And if these candidates, or at least some of them, don’t like each other, how can they expect Canadian voters to like them or their party?

Anyone who followed Thursday night’s debate hoping to learn about the candidates’ positive vision for the party and, indeed, the country would have gone away bitterly disappointed. The two apparent front-runners in the race, Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre and former Quebec premier Jean Charest, were far more intent on attacking and discrediting each other.

Poilievre insisted Charest wasn’t a true Conservative but rather — horrors — a Liberal in blue clothing. Apparently that’s because Charest, once a Progressive Conservative MP, cabinet minister and leader, left the party more than two decades ago at the urging of many federalists to become leader of the Quebec Liberals and eventually the province’s premier. Yet that was done in the legitimate interest of weakening Quebec’s separatists and keeping Canada together — facts Poilievre seems to have forgotten. And to rub salt in the wounds he opened, Poilievre accused Charest of running a government tainted by scandal and a party that had received illegal donations.

For his part, Charest was happy to go straight for Poilievre’s political jugular vein by reminding everyone how his rival was a cheerleader for the trucker protests that paralyzed Ottawa for much of February and temporarily shut down several CanadaUnited States border crossings. Poilievre “supported an illegal blockade,” Charest charged. “You cannot make laws and break laws,” he said. And as if this wasn’t damning enough, Charest told Poilievre to stop lying.

Happy to enter the fray, Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis joined the Poilievre pile-on, accusing him of being a half-hearted supporter of the trucker protest in Ottawa. “You did not even go to the trucker protests,” she said. “You actually went and you took a picture in your neighbourhood, at a local stop. You did not speak up for the truckers.”

Ouch. By the time the shouting, finger-pointing, accusations and insults were over there were a lot of bruised faces. Charest was booed by the crowd — treatment usually reserved for someone in another party. Even the decision by Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown to skip the debate didn’t spare him. Poilievre accused him of lying anyway.

For some people, this might have been entertaining. These might be the folks who watch playoff hockey for the fights. But by and large, the candidates did no favours for themselves or their party. They squandered an opportunity to tell the nation why Conservatives should be considered the people’s choice in the next election. Instead, Charest and Poilievre, especially, preferred to exchange punches on the assumption that the guy left standing would be the next leader.

In our view, the wisest remarks of the night came from candidate Scott Aitchison, an Ontario MP and Zen master in comparison to the hotheads around him. “All we do is yell and scream at each other,” he said. “Here we are calling each other names. What Canadian is going to trust this lot?” Good question, Mr. Aitchison. If common sense and common decency are any recommendations, perhaps he should be considered a front-runner.

If there is any silver lining for the Conservatives in this stormy leadership cloud, it is that this was just the first leadership debate and, as it was organized by the Canada Strong and Free Network, not an official one. The party’s own sanctioned debates are to come. Let’s hope they strike a more illuminating and constructive chord. If not, expect to see the Liberal party attack ads in the next federal election feature footage of the Conservative leadership candidates’ blistering attacks on each other.