Former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark calls on Conservatives to end ‘divisive policy cycle’

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Former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark has made an impassioned call for more moderate conservatives to end the cycle of “click bait politicians” tearing the country apart, hinting that Jean Charest might be the man for the job. Market Stall.

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Clark was the keynote speaker at the Center Ice Conservatives conference in Edmonton on Thursday, which aimed to bring together conservatives on the center or center-right of the political spectrum to discuss in particular how to develop a strong, centrist base in Canada.

“We have an opportunity to change this cycle of divisive politics in this country and this meeting today, I think, is the beginning of that,” Clark said.

“We can elect leaders to unite us or we can elect leaders to tear us apart.”

Clark said he would vote for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada and declined to confirm who would be listed as his first choice. However, he said former Quebec premier Jean Charest “would make a fantastic prime minister.”

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That statement provoked a round of applause in the room.

“By the way, I also thought Tasha Kheiriddin would make a great Prime Minister,” Clark added.

Kheiriddin, who was in the room, considered running for the Conservative leadership race but decided to support Charest. The political commentator and author now serves as co-chair of his national campaign.

Clark, who led Canada’s third-largest province for more than six years, reflected on his own experience as a coalition leader within the BC Liberals. She said she learned to listen to people who “hated her to death” and thought she was “wrong about absolutely everything.”

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“You know, it was a great experience for me, because I learned that I could sit down with people who didn’t like me. And that I could have a conversation, a civil conversation, with people who really disagreed with me,” she said.

Clark criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for telling participants in last winter’s Freedom Convoy that they held “unacceptable views” and further contributed to the country’s divisions.

“I think it’s very important that we all get vaccinated,” he said. “But I don’t think people who refuse to get vaccinated are stupid or disloyal to the country.”

“I think they have a different opinion than mine. I think they are wrong. But I am glad that they have the right to speak about their opinion.”

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Nor did he mince words with the Fed Conservatives, who he said are making “their race to the extremes” and playing “to the edges of the political divide.”

Being exposed to different opinions and controversial ideas, he said, is what will save the Canadian public from “clickbait politicians who think their best path to success is to exploit and prey on our worst instincts.”

“We need them to let us speak. We have to be willing to listen. And we have to stop thinking that contrary opinions are somehow dangerous for us because they are different from ours, ”he insisted.

The Center Ice Conservatives conference saw a variety of speakers from the conservative movement speak on a variety of topics, from growing the economy to promoting the energy sector and an energy transition and even discussing Canadian foreign policy.

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“I think I’ve heard more good ideas here than in the Conservative leadership race in the last two months,” chuckled Rick Peterson, an Alberta businessman, former Conservative leadership candidate and founder of Center Ice Conservatives.

While the panelists argued for higher productivity growth and the exploitation of critical minerals, some commented here and there more or less directed at the current state of the Conservative Party of Canada.

“It’s particularly nice to see a room full of conservatives who want to talk about growth and politics instead of saying, ‘Does the World Economic Forum control our future?’ said political columnist Andrew Coyne, whose comments drew laughter and applause from the room.

Kheiriddin said that “the center, as they say, is not a soft middle”.

“This is a place where people can come together and find common ground and actually have a civil conversation about the issues moving forward,” he said.

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