Date of publication: 16 Apr 2022 • 5 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 55 comments The leader of the Quebec Conservative Party, Eric Duhaime, speaks at a press conference in June 2021 in the legislature in the city of Quebec. THE CANADIAN PRESS / Jacques Boissinot

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Pierre Poilievre and Éric Duhaime go far back.

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In the spring of 2003, Poilievre, then a young politician, sacrificed his vacation weeks to help Duhaime elect him MNA for the Action d émocratique du Québec (ADQ), a right-wing provincial party in Deux- Montagnes, north of Montreal. “He was an exemplary volunteer,” Duhaime recalled in an interview with the National Post. Poilievre spent his time outside the door knocking and working on the phones, and Duhaime said his young volunteer was particularly popular with the English-speaking minority in riding to the point where he was a member of a small committee called the Anglos for Éric. Duhaime came in third, well behind the Parti Québécois (PQ) and the Liberal Party of Quebec (LPQ). “The English did not listen. “They ended up voting Liberals and lost, as we told them they would,” Duhaime laughed.

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Fast forward for almost 20 years and ADQ is long gone. It ended up being swallowed up by the nationalist Avenir Québec Coalition (CAQ), which is now forming the government. Duhaime, after a career as a radio commentator, returns to the political abbot of the Quebec Conservative Party, which is gaining ground during his tenure. In his first year, members jumped from 600 to 57,000, and his party outperformed the Liberals in a recent by-election on the South Montreal Coast with more than 10 percent of the vote. It has also proved to be a thorn in the side of Premier François Legault, especially in terms of the pandemic restrictions that were particularly severe in Quebec.

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Duhaime, who announced his intention to ride the Chauveau horse, north of Quebec City, in this fall’s provincial elections, also managed to attract hundreds of attendees to a recent community center in the area in early April, with several having to to listen to his speech outside due to lack of space. “You’re the silent majority saying louder and louder, ‘Legault, enough is enough,’” Duhaime told them. He was an exemplary volunteer Replace “Legault” with “Trudeau” and that could very well be part of a speech by Poilievre, who has attracted hundreds, even thousands, across the country in his bid to become leader of his Conservative Party. Canada in the past a few weeks. Yan Plante, a former Conservative general and vice president of public relations firm TACT Conseil, has known Duhaime and Poilievre for years. He said both were unforgivably Conservative and had a strong sense of political strategy.

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“They are not ashamed to defend their positions, even when they are not popular with the established, elite,” Plante said. He also said that both politicians are using not a Donald Trump-style populism, but a “Canadian, slightly populist approach” to attract new supporters from all walks of life. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to a crowd of supporters at River Cree Resort and Casino, in Enoch Cree Nation just west of Edmonton, Thursday, April 14, 2022. David Bloom / Postmedia These include parents who have seen firsthand the devastating effects of quarantine on their children in recent years or younger voters who are worried about their financial future and their chances of buying real estate in the housing market. “They are attracting new Conservatives to the movement,” Plante said. “But will it last? “Will these people get to the point of putting their ‘X’ in the ballot box when the time comes?”

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Duhaime, officially, does not take a position in the federal race for Conservative leadership. He said he encouraged its members to vote for whomever they chose and that many of his supporters also work for former Quebec prime minister and candidate Jean-Sares. But Duhaime biographer Frédérick Têtu recently told a local radio station in Québec City that there was a “close personal contact” between Duhaime and Poilievre and that it could be good if Poilievre became the Conservative federal leader. “Eric must remain neutral in the leadership race for the Conservative Party of Canada out of respect. “But certainly, if Poilievre becomes the leader of the CPC, everything is on the table to have a nice informal collaboration, because these are two separate organizations.” “But there is a meeting of minds between the two.”

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