Peter MacKay calls for unity ahead of Poilievre's speech to Conservative convention
CBC
Former Conservative leadership contender Peter MacKay said Friday the party has a shot at defeating the governing Liberals if it stays united between now and the next election.
MacKay, the former leader of the now-defunct Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, is more politically moderate than Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre but they have a common opponent: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He said the party shouldn't splinter or allow certain factions to threaten its electoral fortunes.
"If you remember nothing else that I've said here today, remember this: in order to build a united Canada we must remain united as a Conservative party," MacKay said to polite applause from the roughly 2,500 delegates on hand in Quebec City for the party's policy convention.
"Canada, it's time. It's time to turn the page. It's time to undo the damage the current Liberal government has inflicted on Canadians now for the past eight years."
Poilievre will deliver a highly anticipated speech to the convention tonight. CBCNews.ca will carry his remarks live, starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.
The party already suffered a split in 2019 when former Conservative MP Maxime Bernier left it to start the People's Party of Canada.
Bernier's party did relatively well in the last election, capturing five per cent of the popular vote at a time when many Canadians questioned government policies related to the pandemic. That performance likely cost the Conservatives some seats in 2021 campaign.
The party is determined to crush the upstart PPC while also wooing the swing voters who will decide the next election.
"I've been to a lot of Conservative conventions over my lifetime," MacKay said. "But I must say I have never been at a gathering where there's so much optimism, so much purpose, so much confidence. I believe Pierre Poilievre will be the next prime minister of Canada."
It doesn't appear there is any immediate threat to party unity.
Poilievre easily won the leadership election last year after trouncing his main opponent, the more moderate Jean Charest.
On Friday, convention delegates also defeated an effort led by social conservatives to change the party's constitution and overhaul the candidate nomination process.
Anti-abortion activists wanted a change after the party parachuted a candidate hand-picked by party brass into a recent federal byelection in the Ontario riding of Oxford.
There have been four collisions involving transport trucks in northwestern Ontario in three days, prompting renewed calls for action to address ongoing safety concerns along Highway 11-17.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.