Pierre Poilievre elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

Pierre Poilievre, one of the first members of Parliament elected under the Conservative party’s banner, won the leadership race Saturday night.The party veteran and former cabinet minister, known for his combative style, won a resounding first-ballot victory – with 68 per cent of support – that prompted applause to erupt in the room of Conservative faithful at a downtown Ottawa convention centre.Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier who likely had the best chance of preventing Poilievre from winning the leadership, earned just 16 per cent of support on the first ballot, placing him in distant second place.Poilievre also earned widespread support across the country, being the first choice for Conservative party voters in nearly every riding.

This is Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party. What will he do with it? Poilievre delivered a victory speech that heavily featured his campaign themes of cost-of-living concerns and criticisms of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, particularly the rate of spending and the toll inflation is taking on Canadians.“Today people feel like they’ve lost control of their pocketbooks and their lives,” he said. “The cost of government is driving up the cost of living.”Some people are hanging on by a thread, Poilievre said, vowing to restore hope.“They don’t need a government that sneers at them, looks down on them and calls them names,” he told the crowd. “They don’t need a government to run their lives.

They need a government that can run a passport office.”Poilievre, first elected as a member of Parliament at the age of 25, campaigned for the top job on the central rallying cry of “freedom” and embraced those who opposed getting vaccinated against COVID-19.A pledge to end.