It’s the first time Harper has hit the campaign trail since the 2015 election, when he was prime minister
It’s the first time Harper has hit the campaign trail since the 2015 election, when he was prime minister
OTTAWA — Former prime minister Stephen Harper formally endorsed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre at a rally in Edmonton on Monday evening, and argued that the Liberal government is using threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to paper over its own failings.
Harper argued that most of the country’s problems “were created by the policies of three Liberal terms” that leader Mark Carney supported and that Poilievre would reverse if elected.
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“Pierre has, just as importantly, long advocated the positive alternatives for change. To axe those taxes, build homes, bring back jobs, get our resources to the whole world and stand up to Washington from a position of strength,” said Harper, to cheers from an enthusiastic crowd.
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“I believe that the challenge this country faces today from the United States, as real and serious as it is, should not be another excuse for Liberal failure,” he said.
The Conservatives said more than 15,000 people attended the rally in Nisku, a hamlet south of Edmonton, making it the largest rally any party has hosted during the campaign. The Conservatives have been regularly attracting large crowds to rallies, with thousands of people flocking to see Poilievre in the last couple of weeks.
It’s the first time Harper has hit the campaign trail since the 2015 election, when he was unseated as prime minister, and comes at a time when the Conservatives are in a close race with the Liberals with the April 28 election only weeks away.
Harper said he disagreed with the notion that Carney can slide into the role of prime minister without any experience on Parliament Hill.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that he was born to be prime minister or that he can just somehow parachute into the job fully prepared,” said Harper.
“Political experience — elected, accountable political experience, and the capacity for growth with that political experience — that is what Pierre has demonstrated for two decades, and that is the single most important characteristic a prime minister needs.”
The speech by Harper implicitly pushed back on a theme of Carney’s rally speeches about Poilievre’s lack of experience in the private sector. Carney has repeatedly criticized his opponent for being a lifelong politician who “worships” the free market but has never actually run a business.
Harper also pushed back on Carney for his comments about guiding Canada through the global financial crisis in 2008, which Conservatives have widely criticized as stealing credit from Harper and his finance minister, the late Jim Flaherty.
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“By the way, I say that as the guy who actually did lead Canada through the global financial crisis, I hear there’s someone else claiming it was him,” said Harper. “It was, of course, our government, the late great Jim Flaherty, and our Conservative team who were responsible for the day to day macroeconomic management during that challenging time.”
Harper told the rallygoers that the threats from Trump could be a moment of hope for Canada, rather than a crisis.
“Instead, it should be a historic opportunity. That’s how we’ve got to see it, an opportunity to make Canada what it should be, internally united, internationally connected, a truly independent economy with the highest living standards in the world, and with those benefits enjoyed not just by protected elites, but by all the people of this country, in every region of this country,” said Harper.
Poilievre travelled to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Tuesday, to be followed by a swing through the Greater Toronto Area later in the week.
Carney was also in Alberta on Tuesday, with a rally scheduled in Calgary in the evening.
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