The Bloc, “lazy,” say the Conservatives

Photo: Justin Tang The Canadian Press Conservative Deputy House Leader Luc Berthold (centre) stands with Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer (back left) in the foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Michel Saba – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published yesterday at 4:26 p.m.

• Canada

The Conservatives took a swipe at the Bloc Québécois on Tuesday, accusing them of being “lazy” people who refuse to do the opposition’s main job of holding the government to account “when it starts to get hot and then the sun comes out.”

“Let them sign letters and let the meetings happen! As they say: if you don’t want to help, at least don’t harm,” Conservative Deputy House Leader Luc Berthold lambasted in a speech in the Commons foyer that he devoted much of his time to this attack.

Mr. Berthold said he had sent the Bloc “at least ten requests for emergency meetings” for the health, finance, justice, national defense, ethics, public security and natural resources since the parliamentary recess.

“Each time, the Bloc has preferred vacations to defending the interests of Canadians, and particularly Quebecers,” he said. -he added.

The meetings that the Conservatives are trying to hold on a host of issues would be held under rule 106 (4) of the rules of the House which requires that a letter be signed by four MPs who are members of the committee from at least two political parties.

During question period, Mr. Berthold refused to explain why its leader, Pierre Poilievre, ignores the repeated requests from his Bloc counterpart, Yves-François Blanchet, to debate.

And, four times rather than once , he sidestepped a question about whether he accepts the proposal for a debate.

Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet noted on X that the Conservatives “continue their denigration devoid of any content by multiplying the procedures,” that it must be deduced that any Conservative who takes a vacation is therefore lazy, and that Mr. Poilievre “hides behind a wall of slogans and well-packed mud to escape me.”

“I doubt that the vast majority of Quebecers are naive enough to buy this nonsense,” he added, not without specifying that he is not on vacation and that he holds meetings “every day” on regional and national issues.

The Conservatives have maintained a large lead of about twenty points over the Liberals in voting intentions nationally for over a year. However, they are struggling to make gains in Quebec, where they generally come in third behind the Bloc and the Liberals.

The poll aggregator Canada338 projects that Pierre Poilievre’s party would gain about three additional seats if an election is called.

The Conservatives hold nine seats in Quebec, while the Bloc holds 32. The Liberals have 34 and the New Democratic Party only one. Independent MP Alain Rayes left the Conservative Party following Pierre Poilievre’s election. One seat also remains vacant, that of LaSalle — Émard — Verdun, where a by-election will be held on September 16.

Terrorism

On Tuesday, Conservatives called for a meeting for the public safety committee to look into the case of a man with ties to a foreign terrorist group who managed to evade Canada’s screening process to immigrate to Canada and become a citizen.

Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son, Mostafa Eldidi, 26, were arrested in Richmond Hill, Ont., on July 28 and face nine separate terrorism charges, including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group.

Most of the charges relate to activities that allegedly took place in Canada, but the elder Eldidi is also charged with one count of aggravated assault outside the country. Canada.

In court last week, both men denied the charges, but neither formally filed a response to the charge.

Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer said the government’s silence on how two people with ties to a terrorist group managed to immigrate to Canada is “unacceptable” and demonstrates “a monumental failure” by the Trudeau government.

“Canadians have a right to know what happened. How this individual was able to enter Canada and obtain Canadian citizenship. Canadians also have a right to know whether … other people in Canada with similar backgrounds were allowed to enter our country,” he said.

In his speech, Berthold again referred to the Bloc Québécois. “This time they can't claim it's not an emergency when Canadian lives are at stake,” he said.

The federal government has said very little about the case so far.

Conservative MP and public safety critic Frank Caputo has written to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc asking him to make public all the details of the alleged terrorist plot, Scheer said.

He said LeBlanc would be the first witness he wants to call before the committee.