Yves-François Blanchet urged his conservative counterpart Pierre Poilievre to quickly table a motion of no confidence to bring down Justin Trudeau’s liberal government and thus trigger a federal election campaign.
This is what the Bloc leader made known Monday afternoon, in an impromptu press release, during his visit to Quebec.
“I formally call on the Conservatives to take responsibility for what they have been saying for so long. The Conservative leader keeps getting up in the House to say: “We want elections.” If you want elections, do to have elections. Files a motion of no confidence in the government. Help us try to convince the NDP (…) And we could find ourselves in elections quickly,” launched Mr. Blanchet.
The latter added that he does not understand why the conservative troops are currently obstructing the House of Commons instead of tabling a motion which could lead to the fall of the minority Liberal government if the three opposition parties endorse it.
“He (Pierre Poilievre) is hesitant or in no hurry. I don’t know. (…) Come on, a little effort. We stop blocking Parliament for nothing,” suggested Mr. Blanchet, affirming that the Conservatives “do not serve the common good” and that they are “responsible for keeping Mr. Trudeau’s government in power.”
“Late conversion” to public transport
On the other hand, the Bloc leader described Mr. Poilievre’s position in which he advocated public transportation as a “late conversion.” A video, published a year ago, resurfaced today and it seems to contrast with the usual conservative positions.
“In his speech, he said that we must put housing around public transport. The rest of the planet had already understood that well before a year ago, but please be merciful. There still needs to be public transport,” laughed Yves-François Blanchet.
According to him, as the mega tramway project has reached consensus among the Government of Quebec and the City of Quebec and a lot of money has already been invested in it, “it would be illegitimate, on the part of a level of government which does not “is not business”, not to support this structuring transport network or to have “the temptation to cut the project”.
In his eyes, the Quebec tramway must therefore stop being used as an “electoral lever” by everyone, because it “does not serve the people of Quebec”.
3rd lien
Also qualifying the third link as a “very hypothetical” project, Mr. Blanchet said he noted that “the contamination of the third link fantasy extends to the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), while it is still not more concrete” .
The leader of the Bloc Québécois was referring to the fact that candidates for the leadership of the PLQ – like Frédéric Beauchemin and Denis Coderre – say they are in favor of a third link for cars and trucks, which contrasts with the stated position of their party.
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