After the Montreal break-in, Pierre Poilievre calls for evictions

Photo: Julien Cadena Le Devoir Le Service de police de Montréal a arrêté trois personnes en marge de la manifestation.

The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, is calling on authorities to expel from the country any foreign nationals who participated in the destruction surrounding a demonstration last Friday in Montreal.

“People who are not permanent residents or citizens, who have broken the laws, should be expelled from Canada permanently,” he said to host Mario Dumont on the LCN network.

The leader of the official opposition was shocked by videos showing demonstrators against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) breaking windows, setting fire to cars and committing other misdeeds three days earlier. He promises “tough laws to jail those who break people's property” and increased border protection “to prevent these types of violent people from entering Canada.”

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Pierre Poilievre took aim at the prime minister’s leadership on the issue over the weekend in a video montage of Justin Trudeau having fun with his daughter Ella-Grace at a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto. “He has time to dance and take selfies, but he’s too busy to condemn Hamas’ violent takeover of our streets,” he posted on social media site X Saturday morning.

When the Conservative leader had a chance to flesh out his thinking, in response to questions from Mario Dumont on Monday, he blamed the Trudeau government for “encouraging this extremism” and held it responsible for “out-of-control immigration.” His vision of Canada is that people “leave their problems from abroad at the door.”

“My wife came as a refugee [from Venezuela], she did not import the problems of South America,” he illustrated.

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet also condemned the acts of violence in Montreal over the weekend. “Under the pretext of supporting the Palestinians, [these acts of violence] serve extremist political interests and feed on division and hatred.” He also took the opportunity to attack Canada’s special representative for combating Islamophobia, Amira Elghawaby.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced “anti-Semitism, hatred, discrimination or violence” during a speech in Montreal Monday morning. “We expect that all those responsible will be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Montreal Police Service (SPVM) arrested three people on the sidelines of the demonstration organized by the Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes and the organization Désinvestissement pour la Palestine, where vehicles were set on fire and windows smashed. The police promise to make other arrests following investigations.

The SPVM had not specified the status in Canada of the people arrested at the time of writing.

A review of Pierre Poilievre's positions carried out by Le Devoirduring his 18 years as an MP before becoming leader shows that he has already condemned the presence of criminals among those admitted to the country, but while looking favorably on welcoming “a record number of new Canadians.” For example, he said he was “for immigration” during the party’s leadership debate in May 2022, without contesting the Liberal government’s target for welcoming immigrants.

More details to follow.

With Sandrine Vieira

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