{"id":228413,"date":"2025-10-21T03:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T03:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/228413\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T03:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T03:33:09","slug":"poilievre-backpedals-on-rcmp-comments-after-days-of-pushback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/228413\/","title":{"rendered":"Poilievre backpedals on RCMP comments after days of pushback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement to reporters, Pierre Poilievre said the controversial comments were directed at former RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki.Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre<\/a> tried Monday to soften controversial remarks he made about the RCMP after days of accusations he\u2019d gone too far.<\/p>\n

In a statement e-mailed to reporters early Monday afternoon, he professed his support to rank-and-file police officers, and said he stood by them \u2013 but not their former boss. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy comments were directed to former RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki who has a lengthy track record of publicly documented scandals, deception and political interference to the benefit of the Liberal government,\u201d Mr. Poilievre said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe called for her resignation. We stand by that call to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement was an unusual instance of Mr. Poilievre working to clarify controversial comments and came after pushback even from within his own party. <\/p>\n

Campbell Clark: Pierre Poilievre\u2019s casual accusation of an RCMP cover-up is stunning<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Poilievre\u2019s original remarks about the RCMP<\/a> were made in a sit-down interview with the YouTube channel Northern Perspectives last week. <\/p>\n

In answer to a question about scandals under the Liberal government, Mr. Poilievre said many of them should have involved jail time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the RCMP had been doing its job and not covering up for him, then he would have been criminally charged,\u201d Mr. Poilievre said of former prime minister Justin Trudeau. <\/p>\n

He then said \u201cthe leadership of the RCMP is frankly just despicable when it comes to enforcing laws against the Liberal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

His Monday statement made no reference to his comments about Mr. Trudeau.<\/p>\n

Ms. Lucki served as RCMP commissioner between 2018 and 2023. The Globe and Mail could not immediately reach her for comment. <\/p>\n

The two incidents Mr. Poilievre cited in the interview were the 2019 SNC-Lavalin affair and Mr. Trudeau\u2019s 2016 trip to the Aga Khan\u2019s private island. <\/p>\n

Mr. Trudeau was found in breach of ethics laws for that trip, but the RCMP did not pursue criminal charges<\/a>, nor did they in the SNC-Lavalin scandal. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Justin Trudeau was found to have breached ethics laws for his 2016 trip to the Aga Khan\u2019s private island.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Mr. Poilievre\u2019s statement was sent out Monday as he tried to press the Liberals during Question Period but they parried back with questions of their own on his comments. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Leader of the Opposition put into question the independence of our judiciary, the independence of our prosecutors, of the police, in fact, the very police that put their lives on the line to protect him,\u201d House Leader Steven MacKinnon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leader has the next 30 seconds to make amends, to apologize, to tell the people of this chamber and this house that he is sorry for what he said. We don\u2019t do that in Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Poilievre did not apologize. He accused the Liberals of \u201ctrying to distract from their inflation and rising cost of living by talking about their corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday marked the return of the House of Commons after a Thanksgiving break, and the start of what will be a frenetic few weeks: the Liberals are set to deliver their first budget under Prime Minister Mark Carney on Nov. 4.<\/p>\n

Mr. Poilievre\u2019s office had previously sought to explain the leader\u2019s remarks last week in language similar to that used by him in Monday\u2019s statement. <\/p>\n

His office also noted a past instance of Ms. Lucki appearing to have acted to protect the government<\/a>, in the aftermath of the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia; the Conservatives had previously called for her resignation in connection with that issue.<\/p>\n

Shannon Proudfoot: After Trump visit, Poilievre blames Carney for everything under the sun, including sunburn<\/a><\/p>\n

But, the decision was taken to issue a statement in Mr. Poilievre\u2019s name after earlier efforts to tamp down the criticism failed, and his remarks were given renewed attention by Dimitri Soudas, who once served as spokesperson for former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper. <\/p>\n

Mr. Soudas wrote an op-ed published Friday by the Toronto Star, in which he said Mr. Poilievre was dismantling the \u201cprincipled, serious and credible Conservative Party Harper worked so hard to lead and bring to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

His juxtaposition of Mr. Poilievre\u2019s approach with Mr. Harper\u2019s in turn prompted a statement from the former prime minister\u2019s current chief of staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis article does not reflect former Prime Minister Harper\u2019s views. Mr. Soudas does not speak on behalf of Mr. Harper,\u201d Anna Tomala wrote on social media. <\/p>\n

Mr. Poilievre more often doubles down when attacked for controversial remarks. <\/p>\n

While running for leadership of the party in 2022, he said he\u2019d fire Tiff Macklem<\/a>, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, accusing the bank of doing the bidding of the Liberal government. <\/p>\n

When criticized for wanting to politically interfere with the independent central bank, he stood by his comments and said the bank should be held accountable for contributing to the post-pandemic inflation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: In a statement to reporters, Pierre Poilievre said the controversial comments were directed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-228413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}