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Pierre Poilievre holds taxpayer-funded photo-op with unelected Conservative candidates

Are these photos blurring the line between public and party business?

Are these photos blurring the line between public and party business?

At least four unelected Conservative candidates joined Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre on Sunday at an official Government of Canada event held in the children’s section of discount store Giant Tiger (founded by the father of Conservative MP Scott Reid) to promote the government’s Universal Child Care Benefit.

Here’s Poilievre tweet about the taxpayer-funded event with, in the words of The Canadian Press described, “aspiring Conservative candidates as his backdrop.”

Who was there?

Well, Poilievre was there, as well as a 7-foot tall tiger.

Ottawa-Orleans Conservative MP Royal Galipeau was there. That’s understandable – Galipeau actually is an elected official, so he has a legitimate reason to be there.

But photos from the event posted on social media show Ottawa-Nepean’s Conservative candidate Andy Wang was at the announcement too:

Wang, a former aide to Poilievre, recently came under fire from members of his own party after winning the nomination to represent the riding next door to Poilievre’s own Nepean-Carleton riding.

Joining Wang at Poilievre’s Giant Tiger photo shoot was Conservative candidate Abdul Abdi, who recently won the nomination to run in Ottawa West-Nepean:

Who else? David Piccini, Conservative candidate for Ottawa-Vanier:

Piccini-Poilievre.jpg

And we also know Ottawa-Centre’s unelected Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos was in the house, as well:

But despite all these photos of Poilievre, Conservative candidates and Giant Tiger’s mascot now floating around the Internet, those candidates are curiously absent from the official photos Employment and Social Development Canada (that’s Poilievre’s department) posted Monday morning.

Was ESDC trying to avoid repeating the same mistake they made the last time, when the department posted — then deleted –a picture of Conservative candidates attending a taxpayer-funded government event promoting the Universal Child Care Benefit?

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Photo: ESDC

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