OTTAWA -- Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen pushed predecessor Erin OâToole to show support for the Freedom Convoy protest, arguing last week there are âgood people on both sides,â an echo of the phrase made infamous by former U.S. president Donald Trump after a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.
Bergen also told OâToole and other members of the Conservative shadow cabinet that there were âreasonable peopleâ at the truckersâ protest, just as there were in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Her remarks came during a meeting of the partyâs priorities and planning committee in a boardroom of Parliamentâs West Block. OâToole was present at the meeting but didnât directly respond, according to sources who were present.
Some in attendance were surprised she would evoke the Trump phrase in the context of the truckersâ convoy, which had yet to reach Ottawa.
The sources told ŰÎŰ´ŤĂ˝ that Bergen believed any political risk Conservative MPs might face if they attended or publicly offered support would be limited as long as they avoided any potentially inflammatory symbols.
As it happened, on Saturday, Alberta Conservative MP Michael Cooper was interviewed by CBC News with a flag bearing a swastika in the background. He later issued a press release condemning the symbols of hate seen at the protest.
Although OâToole was first reticent about aligning with the protest, he did meet individually with some truckers last week, at a truck stop about an hourâs drive outside of Ottawa.
Bergenâs office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
In an email Bergen sent Monday, obtained by ŰÎŰ´ŤĂ˝, she told other MPs âI donât think we should be asking them to go homeâ and proposed that the party âturn this into the PMâs problem.â
She also shared pictures of herself visiting on the Hill with protesters from her home province of Manitoba, tweeting that, âThey deserve to be heard and they deserve respect.â
Trumpâs phrase â âvery fine people on both sidesâ â drew heavy criticism when he used it to characterize the Charlottesville protest, where white supremacists marched with torches and Nazi and Confederate flags, chanting anti-Semitic slurs. One counter-protester was killed at Charlottesville.
The Conservative caucus chose Bergen as interim leader Tuesday night, after voting out OâToole as leader.
On Friday afternoon, she released a statement calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to provide a âclear plan to end the situation in Ottawa.â The protest is now in its seventh day.
She also called on truckers in Ottawa to ââplease remain peaceful. Call out and denounce any acts of hate, racism, intolerance or violence.â