‘Battle for soul’ of Conservative Party looking more like a rout Coupled with significant backing from the party’s elected caucus and unelected senators, that means Poilievre is unlikely to face the internal skepticism and backbiting that plagued Erin O’Toole’s brief leadership.Poilievre is also unlikely to be forced into the tightrope act former leader Andrew Scheer attempted, keeping the party united behind him after winning the 2017 leadership by the slimmest of margins.Instead, Poilievre and his team will have the kind of free hand enjoyed by Stephen Harper – the only Conservative leader who won power – during the party’s years in government between 2006 and 2015.The most pressing question now is what they intend to do with that mandate.In the depths of the Ottawa winter, as trucks and protesters clogged the nation’s capital filling it with fumes and endless horn blows, a black flag appeared on the back of a big rig.
It read “Pierre Poilievre for Prime Minister.”It appeared just weeks after the Conservative caucus met to show Erin O’Toole the door after the party’s disappointing showing in the 2021 general election.
In the months that followed that loss, there was a coordinated campaign – both public and behind-the-scenes – to remove O’Toole from the top job.Poilievre’s people take no credit in O’Toole’s political demise, but it is also no secret that many of the Conservatives who wanted O’Toole gone ended up backing Poilievre’s leadership bid.During the convoy protests, Poilievre himself seemed at odds with his then leader – giving a full-throated defence of protesters who he considered had legitimate grievances with the Liberal government and vaccine mandates.