Bergen pushed O'Toole to back convoy saying there are 'good people on both sides': sources
CTV
Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen pushed predecessor Erin O'Toole to show support for the Freedom Convoy protest, arguing last week there are 'good people on both sides,' an echo of the phrase made infamous by former U.S. president Donald Trump after a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.
Bergen also told O’Toole and other members of the Conservative shadow cabinet that there were “reasonable people” at the truckers’ protest, just as there were in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Her remarks came during a meeting of the party’s priorities and planning committee in a boardroom of Parliament’s West Block. O’Toole was present at the meeting but didn’t directly respond, according to sources who were present.
Some in attendance were surprised she would evoke the Trump phrase in the context of the truckers’ convoy, which had yet to reach Ottawa.
The sources told CTV News that Bergen believed any political risk Conservative MPs might face if they attended or publicly offered support would be limited as long as they avoided any potentially inflammatory symbols.
