The Canadian Conservatives chose right-wing Pierre Poilievre to lead the opposition to prime minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday, over a year after they lost in parliamentary elections.
With 68 percent of the almost 400,000 votes cast by party members in the first round, Poilievre easily defeated his major rival, centrist former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who received 16.07 percent of the vote.
By raging against Covid-19 vaccination requirements, inflation, and pipelines, as well as by endorsing cryptocurrency and pipelines and supporting the trucker-led protest caravan that invaded Ottawa’s capital in February, Poilievre, 43, defeated five other candidates to become the top Tory.
“Tonight begins the journey to replace an old government that costs you more and delivers you less with a new government that puts you first,” Poilievre said in a speech in Ottawa after his win.
“By tackling Liberal inflation, we’ll put you back in control of your life and your money,” he said, hitting out at Trudeau’s government as “the most expensive” in the country’s history.
On Twitter, Trudeau praised Poilievre on his victory and urged cooperation “to deliver outcomes for people across the country.”
Poilievre is a seasoned politician who twice held the position of junior minister before Trudeau gained government and has won seven elections to represent an Ottawa suburb.
He succeeds a temporary leader who has been in the role ever since Erin O’Toole was forced to resign in February on claims that he had moved the party too close to the political center.
In September 2021 elections, the Conservatives failed to take power, garnering 119 seats in the House of Commons compared to 160 for Trudeau’s Liberals. The Liberals were forced to form a new minority government, as in 2019. The next federal election is set for 2025.
