Ottawa — Conservative Leader Candidate MP Pierre Poirievre was lobbied by Quebec’s fellow Prime Minister Jean-Chareste during the first leaders’ debate on the May 5 campaign. He insisted that he made only money, but didn’t get the answer.
Nearly an hour of the 90-minute event, moderator Jamil Jivani has time for a public rebuttal to talk about how other candidates will tackle the American cultural war and what Jivani said with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. When announced, Poilievre seized the opportunity and was eager to import them into Canada.
“If we’re going to unite this country, we have to be clean. Charest needs to be clean with the money we got from Huawei,” Poilievre said.
“This is a company whose software and hardware are banned from 5G networks in the four Five Eyes countries, often because of allegations that they used it for espionage. . “
Charest was part of a team at the law firm McCarthy Tétrault, which Huawei hired in January 2020 to provide strategic advice on the Meng Wanzhou case. Globe and Mail It was reported at that time. Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the founder of a telecommunications giant, was in Vancouver in December 2018 after a U.S. delivery request for fraud related to a breach of U.S. sanctions against Iran. I was arrested.
According to Globe, Charest was also counseling Huawei for approval to sell the device to Canada for the construction of Canada’s 5G network. This revelation rekindled Ottawa’s enactment of foreign interferometry, requiring former Cabinet Ministers and others to register with the federal government if they subsequently work for foreign entities.
Immediately after Meng’s arrest, Beijing detained Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in a widely seen move in retaliation against Ottawa. Charest has argued that he worked to free the two men and has voiced criticism of the Communist Party’s administration for their arrest.
At the debate, Poileve asked Charest: Please give me just a few, how much? “
Charest tried to protect himself, but Poilievre asked “how much” over and over again, over and over again.
“We are not the student organization here, Pierre, this is not the student organization here,” Charest replied.
In response, Poilievre said: “This is national security, Mr. Charest. It’s not a laugh. How much did you get from Huawei? Answer the question.”
Charest then claimed that Huawei was welcomed to Canada by the conservative government in 2012.
“I’m proud of the fact that I also worked to free the two Michaels and bring them home. If you need proof, ask Michael Kovrig’s wife,” Sharest said. Said.
“Do you have swamps to sell us in Florida too? How much?” Poilievre asked.
“May I speak? This is the country you believe in and people are not allowed to speak,” Charest said.
“It’s just a dollar amount,” Poilievre asked again.
The moderator then declared Charest to have a say.
After all, Charest never answered that question.
After talking to reporters following the debate, Charest was asked if he thinks his work with Huawei is now a political responsibility in his attempt to win conservative leadership. I did.
“When I traveled all over the country, I didn’t hear the problem anywhere,” Charest said.
The event was hosted by the Canada Strong and Free Network as part of its annual conference in Ottawa and was not considered an official leadership campaign.
Five of the six candidates, Roman Barber, Jean Charest, Leslin Lewis, Pierre Poirievre and Scott H.son, participated. Patrick Brown declined to participate in a campaign that stated that he was focusing on member sales before the June 3 deadline.
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Limin Zhou is an Ottawa-based reporter.