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Politics

Poilievre kicking off the summer with a campaign-style RV tour of Quebec

With the House of Commons adjourned for the summer, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is taking his political message on the road in a campaign-style RV trip around Quebec.

Conservatives hold a strong lead in the polls nationwide, but trail the Bloc Qubcois in Quebec

A man in a dark suit, blue tie and sunglasses raises a peace sign as he is exiting a car.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre arrives at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

With the House of Commons adjourned for the summer, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is taking his political message on the road in a campaign-style RV trip around Quebec.

Poilievre will visit a number of Quebec ridings over the next few weeks in an RV that features a photo of himself and his family along with a "Common Sense" slogan.

Poilievre told Radio-Canada that the tour is about "listening to Quebecers" and talking to them about cost-of-living issues.

"Politicians and the federal government don't care about Quebecers now," he said in French.

"The centralist and inflationist government of Justin Trudeau costs too much. I want to lower those costs for Quebecers and share my common sense plan."

Conservatives have enjoyed a strong lead in national polls recently, but surveys released this week by Abacus and Angus Reid show the Tories trailing the Bloc Qubcois in Quebec.

The objective of the RV tour is to send a "strong signal" that the Conservatives have Quebec's interests "at heart," Poilievre's Quebec lieutenant Pierre Paul-Hus told the Canadian Press in a French interview.

"The image that people currently have of Pierre Poilievre is the guy who fights in the House of Commons. It's the image that is on TVthat people see," Paul-Hus said. "But the man, the human who shakes hands, who chats with you, every time someone meets him and talks to him, they say, 'Wow, that's not how I saw him.'"

Quebec Conservative MPs have beenusing their time in question period to accuse the Bloc of propping up the Liberal government. But the Conservatives also appear to be going after Liberal ridings in the province.

Poilievre held a rally in the Montreal riding of Mount Royal on Wednesday night, where he introduced Neil Oberman as the Conservative candidatein the next election.

Oberman, a lawyer for more than 20 years, recently represented students who filed an injunction request against the McGill pro-Palestinian encampment.

The lawyer will try to win the seat away from Anthony Housefather, who has represented Mount Royal since 2015. The riding is a Liberal stronghold,held by the party since 1940.

People standing next to each other for a photo.
Neil Oberman, standing in the middle to the right of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, will be the party's candidate in the Mount Royal riding. (Radio-Canada)

Both the Abacus and AngusReid surveys released this week show the Tories have a 20-point lead over the Liberals nationwide.

Some Liberals have acknowledgedpublicly the tough position the party is in as MPs return to their ridings for the summer.

"We're swimming into the tide. It's tough," P.E.I. MP Sean Casey told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.

"It's frustrating when you're swimming into the tide, but that's a function of politics, that's life. I'm not going to work any less."

When asked Wednesday if there is anything the Liberals could do to turn their polling fortunes around, Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said "there's no magic formula."

"Just work harder and just make sure you get the word out on the work that you are doing," he said.

With files from The Canadian Press