Bergen pushed O'Toole to back convoy saying there are 'good people on both sides': sources
Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen pushed predecessor Erin O鈥橳oole to show support for the Freedom Convoy protest, arguing last week there are 鈥済ood people on both sides,鈥 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鈥橳oole and other members of the Conservative shadow cabinet that there were 鈥渞easonable people鈥 at the truckers鈥 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鈥檚 priorities and planning committee in a boardroom of Parliament鈥檚 West Block. O鈥橳oole was present at the meeting but didn鈥檛 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鈥 convoy, which had yet to reach Ottawa.
The sources told 麻豆影视 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.
As it happened, on Saturday, Alberta Conservative MP Michael Cooper was interviewed by CBC News with a flag bearing a swastika in the background. He later issued a press release condemning the symbols of hate seen at the protest.
Although O鈥橳oole was first reticent about aligning with the protest, he did meet individually with some truckers last week, at a truck stop about an hour鈥檚 drive outside of Ottawa.
Bergen鈥檚 office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
In an email Bergen sent Monday, obtained by 麻豆影视, she told other MPs 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we should be asking them to go home鈥 and proposed that the party 鈥渢urn this into the PM鈥檚 problem.鈥
She also shared pictures of herself visiting on the Hill with protesters from her home province of Manitoba, tweeting that, 鈥淭hey deserve to be heard and they deserve respect.鈥
Trump鈥檚 phrase 鈥 鈥渧ery fine people on both sides鈥 鈥 drew heavy criticism when he used it to characterize the Charlottesville protest, where white supremacists marched with torches and Nazi and Confederate flags, chanting anti-Semitic slurs. One counter-protester was killed at Charlottesville.
The Conservative caucus chose Bergen as interim leader Tuesday night, after voting out O鈥橳oole as leader.
On Friday afternoon, she released a statement calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to provide a 鈥渃lear plan to end the situation in Ottawa.鈥 The protest is now in its seventh day.
She also called on truckers in Ottawa to 鈥溾漰lease remain peaceful. Call out and denounce any acts of hate, racism, intolerance or violence.鈥
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government鈥檚 three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party鈥檚 popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn鈥檛 be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre says it would be 'not fair' for Liberals to replace Trudeau as leader
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre thinks it would be 'not fair' for the Liberals to oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now, as in his view they are 'morally obligated' to keep him.
'I'm ready for an election': Bloc beginning talks to topple Trudeau gov't as ultimatum expires
Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is starting to talk to other opposition parties about bringing down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government.
An expert stands firm on his U.S. election win prediction. Here's what he says happened after
An American presidential historian is maintaining his previous prediction of a Kamala Harris presidency as the U.S. election hits the one-week mark.
Senior Modi cabinet minister linked to India-supported violence in Canada: officials
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison has confirmed a report that Canada is alleging an Indian cabinet minister and close adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered intelligence-gathering operations of Canadians.
Nova Scotia鈥檚 Department of Labour has lifted its stop-work order at a Halifax Walmart more than a week after the body of 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur was discovered in an industrial oven in the store鈥檚 bakery.
Henrickson was a 17-year-old girl from Squamish who went missing after a house party on Bowen Island, during the then unusually warm summer of 2009.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says an Ontario facility producing plant-based milks was not adhering to Health Canada鈥檚 policies on listeria prevention prior to an outbreak that led to three deaths.
Special interlocutor calls for 20-year probe into missing Indigenous children
A final report into missing children and unmarked graves at residential schools is calling on the federal government to create an Indigenous-led national commission with a 20-year mandate to investigate missing and disappeared Indigenous children.
Nova Scotians 鈥 including the province鈥檚 top politicians 鈥 are continuing to express outrage after four people showed up at a Halloween dance dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes.
Local Spotlight
Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.
Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.
New Brunswicker Jillea Godin鈥檚 elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.
A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.
Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.
He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.
A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.
Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.
A man who lost his life while trying to rescue people from floodwaters, and a 13-year-old boy who saved his family from a dog attack, are among the Nova Scotians who received a medal for bravery Tuesday.