OTTAWA – Pierre Poilievre is the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). He was elected on the first ballot, leaving his rival, Jean Charest, to bite the dust.
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With 68% of the vote once morest 16% for the former premier of Quebec, Pierre Poilievre took the stage at the Shaw Center in Ottawa as the crowd chanted “Freedom! Freedom!”, the rallying cry of the truckers of the “freedom” convoy.
“We will give you back control of your money and your life,” he said in a unifying victory speech, calling for unity to defeat Justin Trudeau.
While the former premier of Quebec proposed a shift to the center, Mr. Poilievre campaigned clearly on the right, displaying himself as pro-convoy of “freedom” and anti-sanitary measures.
“I’m the anti-woke candidate and I’m the free speech candidate,” he said recently at an event in Quebec.
His message clearly hit home, judging by the tidal wave that was expressed at the polls. By comparison, it took three laps for previous leader Erin O’Toole to claim victory in 2020 and 13 for his predecessor, Andrew Sheer, in 2017.
A bilingual career politician, Pierre Poilievre made his first political donation at age 15 and was first elected in 2004, aged just 25.
Since then, he has made himself known as an aggressive and combative parliamentarian. He is known for his partisan attacks on his opponents. He presents himself as an anti-elitist politician and is in favor of minimal government.
Rock star
Throughout the campaign, Mr. Poilievre attracted hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of supporters to nearly 80 rallies that sometimes resembled rock shows. In six months, 93,000 people took part from one end of the country to the other, according to the Poilievre team.
In particular, he declared that he would show the door to the governor of the central bank, Tiff Macklem, whom he holds responsible for inflation, extolled the merits of cryptocurrencies as a solution to rising prices, and promised to “give Canada back to Canadians”.
After leading a fractious race for six months, Mr Poilievre has changed his tune in recent days by saying he has seen a lot of suffering across the country and is running as the ‘hope’ candidate.
Gone pumped up
His team claims to have attracted nearly 312,000 new members to the party, more than the total number of those who voted in the previous two races. In total, 678,708 people were called to vote.
In addition to gaining more members than ever, the party has built up a significant prize pool: Team Poilievre raised $2.7 million, compared to $1.5 million for Team Charest, according to Elections Canada.
Besides Pierre Poilievre and Jean Charest, three other candidates were in the running: pro-life Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis, MP Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber, who fell back on the federal Conservative Party following being kicked out of caucus by the Ontario Premier Doug Ford for his opposition to lockdowns.
Former Brampton mayor Patrick Brown was disqualified in early July for allegedly violating election law, according to the Party.
Tribute to the Queen
The evening took place at the Shaw Center in Ottawa to a packed house. It nevertheless took place in a more sober atmosphere than expected due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Friday.
After a minute of silence in memory of the sovereign, an instrumental version of God Save the King was sung before the national anthem, condolences to the families of the victims of the Saskatchewan massacre and the native blessing.
Who is Pierre Poilievre?
- 43 ans
- Born in Calgary to a teenage mother who placed him up for adoption
- Adopted by a family of French-speaking teachers in Saskatchewan
- Father of two children
- First elected in 2004, aged 25
- Member of Parliament for the riding of Carleton, a suburb of Ottawa
- Minister of Democratic Institutions from 2013 to 2015, under Stephen Harper
- Minister of Human Resources and Social Development in 2015
