Justin Trudeau has launched a blistering attack on Pierre Poilievre, claiming the Tory leader welcomes the support of “conspiracy theorists and extremists.”
Speaking in Oakville, Ont. this morning to discuss housing measures in the 2024 budget, the prime minister was asked by a CBC reporter about a video posted to social media on Tuesday showing Poilievre chatting with carbon tax protesters in Nova Scotia.
In the video the protesters, who are near a flag with “F*** Trudeau” written on it, discuss the tax with Poilievre, who appears to tell them at one point that “everything [Trudeau] said was bulls*** from top to bottom.”
In response to Trudeau’s comments, Poilievre’s spokesman told NowMedia that the leader of the opposition had made a “brief, impromptu stop” to speak with opponents of the “punishing carbon tax.”
He added: “If Justin Trudeau is concerned about extremism, he should look at parades on Canadian streets openly celebrating Hamas’ slaughter of Jews on October 7th.”
In his remarks this morning, Trudeau accused Poilievre of doing “anything to win, anything to torque up negativity and fear.”
“Every politician has to make choices about what kind of leader they want to be,” the prime minister said. “Are they the kind of leader that is going to exacerbate divisions, fears and polarization in our country? Make personal attacks and welcome the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists?
“Because that’s exactly what Pierre Poilievre continues to do; not just when you see him engaging with members of Diagalon, but also when he refuses to condemn and reject the endorsement of Alex Jones. Alex Jones is a proven liar and conspiracy theorist who has to pay hundreds of millions of dollars because he lied about the Sandy Hook killing that killed 20 little kids.
“This is the kind of man that’s saying, Pierre Poilievre has the right ideas to bring the country towards the right – towards conspiracy theories, towards extremism, towards polarization, towards the kind of lies that Alex Jones is peddling, still.”
Liberal Party activists and MPs have attempted to link Poilievre with Jones, a controversial US radio host, on numerous occasions in the past.
But Poilievre’s spokesman said, in response to NowMedia’s question about Jones, that “we do not follow the individual you mention or listen to what he has to say.”
He added: “Common sense Conservatives are listening to the priorities of the millions of Canadians that want to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. It is the endorsement of hard working, everyday Canadians that Conservatives are working to earn.
“Unlike Justin Trudeau, we’re not paying attention to what some American is saying.”
Earlier this month, Jones responded to a video posted on X by a Liberal MP which pushes the idea that Poilievre and Jones share the same views.
Jones said: "The man set to be the next prime minister of Canada is saying the same things as me because it’s real things going on, but they turned side-by-side videos of us together and say, ‘Look, he’s getting all his points from Alex Jones.’ No, there’s a global awakening and a global resistance to this.”
He has previously said Poilievre is "the real deal."
In response to that, the prime minister called on Poilievre to repudiate Jones.
Poilievre, however, has never expressed approval of Jones, and nor is there any evidence that he has been influenced by him.
But Trudeau, speaking today, said that Poilievre’s failure to explicitly reject Jones’ endorsement reveals a lot about his opponent.
“So the fact that Pierre Poilievre hasn’t stood up to condemn that endorsement, the fact that he continues to encourage the kind of divisive approaches to Canada that I don’t think Canadians want to see, really shows that he will do anything to win, anything to torque up negativity and fear, and it only emphasizes that he has nothing to say to actually solve the problems that he’s busy amplifying,” he said.
