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Does Poilievre appeal to voters who are not traditionally Conservative?

Local MP says Poilievre's appeal is widespread

Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray says the new leader of the Conservative Party is already appealing to a widespread voter base and his message resonates with many people, not just traditional members.

When asked if Pierre Poilievre would have to tone down the heated messaging from his campaign trail now that he’ll need to appeal to non-party voters across the country, Gray said his campaign made it clear he has won support from a broad sector of the public.

“When we look at a lot of people who have joined the Conservative Party, they are not traditional members,” Gray told Kelowna10 in her first video interview since the leadership convention on Sunday. Gray was a campaign co-chair for Poilievre.

“I attended a number or rallies, not only in Kelowna but in other parts of British Columbia, and I had many people come up to me and say ‘I have never belonged to a political party before … I’ve never voted Conservative, but everything that you’re saying is really resonating with me and that I want to support.’”

Gray said with the most party memberships than any party in Canadian history, (the party claimed it sold just under 312,000 memberships during the leadership process), there was clear unity among followers given Poilievre’s resounding victory.

“As you probably saw, 330 ridings out of 338 voted on the first ballot for Pierre Poilievre… so that shows there is a lot of unity in our party and a lot of confidence in his leading the party,” she said.

Nearly 70 per cent of the membership voted for him on the first ballot and it was the most decisive leadership decision by party voters since Stephen Harper’s in 2004.

What's in a label?

Poilievre’s style has been labelled firebrand and extreme, with politicos suggesting that will likely hinder his prospects of resonating with a more moderate audience. He has controversially threatened to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada if elected as PM and has supported crypto-currency. However, Gray insists what he’s been campaigning about captures attention across the political spectrum.

“Without putting labels, his message has been what people are talking about: inflation, housing costs have more than doubled across much of the country during this current Liberal government… he’s been talking about red tape, and about people needing to pay their bills,” she explained.

It remains to be seen if the next general election will happen any sooner than 2025 as expected, and if, and by how much Poilievre will gain traction countrywide in the years before then, but Gray said the party had to be ready for any political eventuality.

“Technically, the election isn’t for three years, but the government could fall, or of course the prime minister could call an election as he did last summer in the middle of wildfire season here in B.C.,” she said. “There’s a lot of variables. In a minority government you always have to be ready at any time.”

Published 2022-09-15 by Glenn Hicks

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