FERGUS – Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre drew a large crowd during a campaign stop at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex here on April 21.
The parking lot was overflowing, the room in the sportsplex was filled beyond capacity and one of his handlers estimated 600 people were there.
Dr. Ashish Sachan, the Conservative candidate in the Guelph riding, warmed up the crowd before Poilievre took the microphone.
Poilievre spoke for about 30 minutes and then stood for selfies with those who chose to wait in line for the opportunity.
He talked about the main planks of his platform – that he would get rid of inflationary deficits, axe the carbon tax, defund the CBC and remove the bureaucracy and red tape he said is driving up the price of homes.
He didn’t speak about the seven other leadership contenders: Scott Aitchison, Leona Alleslev, Roman Baber, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Marc Dalton and Leslyn Lewis.
But he did take shots at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, using now-familiar phrases like “Justinflation” and promising to transfer wealth “to the have-nots, not the have yachts.”
And he referred to himself as the next prime minister.
He also urged people to take out Conservative memberships so they are able to vote for the leader of the party.
In all, Poilievre was in Fergus for about two hours before heading to his next campaign stop.
