Ahead of several Conservative Party leadership debates, MP Michael Chong came out swinging last week against a fellow candidate who endorsed Donald Trump’s election south of the border.
On Nov. 9, just hours after the U.S. results were official, Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch declared “our American cousins threw out the elites” and elected Trump.
In a Facebook post and emails distributed to her supporters, the Simcoe-Grey MP called Trump’s election “an exciting message and one that we need delivered in Canada as well.”
Leitch said she will bring the same message in her campaign, adding she is the only Conservative leadership candidate “who is standing up for Canadian values.”
Later that day, in his own statement to Conservative supporters, Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong strongly criticized Leitch for “urging Canadian conservatives to ape Donald Trump’s divisive path” to the White House.
“This is a mistake,” wrote Chong, who instead championed “an ambitious, inspiring and inclusive vision of our country and its potential.”
Chong, who has previously criticized Leitch’s plan to screen new visitors, immigrants and refugees for “Canadian values,” declared the Conservative leadership race is quickly becoming “a stark choice between two very different visions for our party and our country.”
“As Conservatives, we should not support any move to police people’s thoughts or subject anyone to an ideological purity test,” Chong stated.
“Conservative leadership involves reaching out to all Canadians … It involves taking principled positions on Canadian identity aimed at fostering a more united Canada.”
First elected in Wellington-Halton Hills in 2004 and re-elected four times, Chong is one of 12 candidates seeking the federal Conservative Party leadership.
The other registered candidates are Leitch, Chris Alexander, Maxime Bernier, Steven Blaney, Dan Lindsay, Deepak Obhrai, Erin O’Toole, Lisa Raitt, Andrew Saxton, Andrew Scheer and Brad Trost.
