Brown and Poilievre spar over Niqab Ban from 2015

If Pierre Poilievre thought he was in for an easy ride to Stornaway, Patrick Brown made it abundantly clear on Monday that he's not going to hold any punches.

Poilievre was in the GTA this past weekend and on Monday pitching new policies Monday that according to him will make it easier for skilled immigrants to practice their professions in Canada.

Brown who had entered the race a day earlier said that Poilievre had no leg to stand on when it came to announcing policies that would largely impact minority communities, "(Poilievre)'s never publicly stood against policies that disproportionately impact them.

“Mr. Poilievre has enlisted a campaign spokesperson who was the architect of the 2015 Conservative federal election campaign. This is the same campaign which platformed those two abhorrent policies, and lost the Conservatives the 2015 general election," Brown added in regards to Jenni Bryne who was the Campaign Manager in the 2015 election.

Brown is bringing this up along with a failed policy from the 2015 campaign election, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government announced a ban on the niqad, and the introduction of a barbaric cultural practices tipline.

In the lead up to the 2021 general election Conservative MP's and Conservative candidates running who were in support of the 2015 ban were apologizing on twitter, including Edmonton MP Tim Uppal, Calgary MP Michelle Remple Garner, and then Candidate for Thornhill, Ontario Melissa Lantsman.

For Poilievre's part, he was a key point person in the 2015 election on the niqab ban during citizenship ceremonies. He has yet to renounce his stance from the 2015 election.

Poilievre in 2015 said that it was completely reasonable for the ban, "The reason we ask people to show up in person is that we want to witness them giving their oath of allegiance to this country. We don't let people fax it in, make a phone call or send an email. We bring them in person because it is a sacred moment of citizenship and of loyalty to a country that must be witnessed by one's peers and that cannot be done if one's face is covered."

On Monday Poilievre fired back at the Brampton Mayor saying that he was lying and that there was no such ban, "Patrick Brown is lying in his attacks on the Harper government. There was no Niqab ban. I would never support that, nor did Mr. Harper. What Mr. Harper proposed was that a person's face be visible while giving oaths at citizenship ceremonies."

On social media, Brown responded in screen shots from Tim Uppal and Melissa Lantsman, both who are backing Poilievre, "Your campaign co-chair and key endorser did a brave, good, thing and called out the niqab ban. With your statement below are you calling them liars too?