OTTAWA-
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told CTV Question Period that he was impressed with the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre – who has been in office for almost a month – but that he warned to move closer to the political center if he hopes to win a general election.
“I thought he was very good,” Mulroney said of the first time he watched Poilievre in the House of Commons as official Leader of the Opposition. “He has developed a sense of humor and he thinks on his feet, which is essential for a successful opposition leader or prime minister.”
“I think he’s going to take the Conservative Party the right way,” he added.
Mulroney said he had a private dinner with Poilievre – at Poilievre’s request – and found him “a very good listener” and “a reasonable guy”.
But Mulroney also warned that the new Conservative Party leader will likely have to “put aside” some of the “stranger things” he campaigned on: threatening to fire the Bank of Canada governor, supporting trucker protests and encouraging Canadians to “opt out” of inflation using cryptocurrency.
“Look, you can’t get elected with this stuff,” Mulroney said. “The Canadians are not there. The Canadians are in the big general center.
“I told him – which is pretty obvious – you can’t, in this country, get elected to the far left or the far right. It can’t happen. We have 155 years of history to prove it,” he added.
Meanwhile, one of Poilievre’s top advisers, Jenni Byrne, said last month ahead of Poilievre’s victory and election as leader that he was unlikely to take a more moderate approach after the campaign. .
“What you see is what you get,” Byrne said. “What you should expect to hear from Pierre is exactly what he is talking about.”
Mulroney said he also cautioned Poilievre against underestimating or trivializing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, particularly given his record beating former Conservative Party leaders Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer and Erin O’ Toole in the last three consecutive general elections.
“You can question his politics as prime minister, that’s fair, but what’s pretty clear is that he, Justin Trudeau, is a campaign champion, and he’s a retail politician. top notch, so you have to take that into account if you want to win an election against a politician who is successful like that,” he explained.
The next general election is not scheduled until 2025, and in the meantime, the NDP has backed the Liberal government with a supply and confidence agreement the two parties reached last March.
With files by Rachel Aiello