Kelowna MP slams former B.C. premier over Conservative leadership endorsement

It didn’t take long for Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative MLA Tracy Gray to go on the attack against former premier and Westside Kelowna MLA Christy Clark.

“Those of us from B.C. remember Clark for supporting Canada's first carbon tax, crushing small business, making car insurance among the most expensive in Canada and calling people dinosaurs who disagreed with her,” Gray posted on her Twitter feed today, Aug. 12.

“Forgive me if I'm not interested in her views on Conservative politics.”

Her comment came a day after Clark, who was premier and MLA in the Okanagan from 2013 to 2017, spoke at a Centre Ice Conservative event in Edmonton.

“We’re watching the Conservative Party of Canada make its race for the extremes to play to the very edges of the political divide,” Clark said while endorsing Jean Charest in his campaign to become the new federal leader.

READ MORE: Federal Tories racing to the 'extremes,' says former B.C. premier Christy Clark

Gray is one of three B.C. co-chairs for Pierre Poilievre, who is seen in many circles as the front-runner in the race and is expected to move the party towards the extreme right if he wins the contest in September.

While Clark was elected as a B.C. Liberal, that party is considered to be a centre right party, rather than a Liberal party.

Rene Merrifield, who ran against Gray for the Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative nomination in 2019 and lost, is now the B.C. Liberal MLA for Kelowna Mission and ran for that party’s leadership.

The Centre Ice Conservatives “are a platform that intends to be a strong, bold and proud voice for the centre-right of Canada’s political spectrum,” its website says.

Federal Conservative leadership ballots must be in by Sept. 6 and the winner will be announced Sept. 10.

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