Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre was in Barrie on Sunday afternoon for a members rally in the city’s east end.
Poilievre's event at Eastview Arena had about 1,000 people in attendance, Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP Doug Shipley told BarrieToday.
“It was directed at (CPC) members and was to assist in the filling out of ballots and to generally get support going,” Shipley said Monday morning.
The Conservatives have been seeking a new leader since Erin O'Toole was removed by the party caucus during a leadership review last February.
The candidates running for the CPC leadership are Poilievre, Leslyn Lewis, Jean Charest, Roman Baber, and Scott Aitchison.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who has deep ties to the Barrie area as a former city councillor, MP and MPP, was disqualified from the race earlier this month by the party, but has said he will fight that decision.
Shipley says he's backing Poilievre in the leadership race.
“I am supporting Pierre. I made that clear at the event yesterday. I may be available as the local MP for other candidates that stop by. I’d have to see about that,” he said.
A video on Facebook shows Poilievre getting a loud ovation as he stated he will “save a $1 billion by defunding the CBC.” He then questioned where the CBC was during the event, even looking over to his side and saying, “Where are they Doug? I don’t see them around.”
However, Shipley told BarrieToday that no media were invited to the local event, as it was strictly for party members.
In a tweet on Sunday, Poilievre said: “A room full of energy this afternoon in Barrie with a crowd ready to take back control of their lives. Help us make Canada the freest country on Earth.”
Mary Langevin, who was among those in attendance, told BarrieToday that she has never been involved or interested in politics, but her “father always voted Conservative, so I've done the same most of my life.”
Langevin said she wanted to show her support for Poilievre because of his stance on a variety of issues. She told BarrieToday that the two key points the Barrie crowd “went wild” over at the rally were defunding of the CBC, which she says she agrees with, and Poilievre saying he does not support the World Economic Forum.
“I did meet a lady who had extreme-right views. Way too much for my comfort, but there will always be supporters of anything who are extreme one way or the other,” she said. “What I mostly saw were a lot of people my own age and also younger families attending with children who mainly seemed to want the same thing — freedom to be able to make their own choices for themselves and their families, not to have extreme limitations put on them because of a choice they have made.”
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