Trudeau takes jabs at Conservative leader in absentia at annual press gallery dinnerOTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not attend the press gallery dinner on Saturday evening, but he was nonetheless much of the focus of a long-standing political tradition of lobbing light-hearted shots at political rivals during speeches at the event. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau began getting his digs in at Poilievre with the suggestion that the Conservative leader would have come if the press gallery had told him they were "occupying" the venue — a reference to his support for the "Freedom Convoy" protest. Trudeau mentioned, for example, Poilievre’s comments on a podcast hosted by Jordan Peterson, a controversial commentator, about using plain language. Trudeau also charged the Opposition leader with giving bad advice when he suggested Canadians could opt out of inflation using digital currency. He had a baby, Trudeau grew a beard, and Poilievre took over the People’s Party of Canada, Jagmeet quipped.

Source: CBC News October 23, 2022 09:30 UTC