The Conservative Party of Canada had a reasonably orderly process in the latest attempt to pick a leader. No huge delays. No surprise winners.
Saturday night, party members overwhelmingly chose Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre to be their new leader. Poilievre won 68.15% on the first ballot.
With Patrick Brown being removed from the race, former Quebec premier Jean Charest finished second with 16.07%.
Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, who ran in the last leadership race won by Erin O'Toole, took 3rd with 9.69%. Lewis was the only Black candidate, only female candidate, and the lone social conservative candidate.
Former Ontario MPP Roman Baber, not a fan of the COVID restrictions, finished with 5.03%. MP Scott Aitchison, a former mayor in Ontario's cottage country, had about 1%.
Poilievre has made some unusual enemies in running to be the opposition leader: He promised to fire the Bank of Canada governor and attacked the World Economic Forum. Poilievre said he would forbid cabinet ministers from attending the summit in Davos, Switzerland.
The Conservative Party leadership list has been extensive since Stephen Harper lost the 2015 election: Rona Ambrose (interim), Andrew Scheer, Erin O'Toole, Candice Bergen (interim), and now Pierre Poilievre.
The next federal election should be in the fall of 2024, so Poilievre will have time to make himself known to Canadian voters. Justin Trudeau has been prime minister for 7 years.
The argument, of sorts, is that Scheer and O'Toole weren't conservative enough, while Poilievre doesn't have that concern. The question is whether the party members picked someone who can flip key ridings in Ontario and Quebec. Poilievre has been a strong supporter of the truck convoy protesters earlier this year in Ottawa.
A criticism of the new leader is that he has been a career politician since he was 24.
Erin O'Toole out as Conservative Party federal leader
Candice Bergen has been a long standing conservative MP since 2008. Bergen was a parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety and minister of state for social development when Harper was prime minister.
Bergen announced last week that she will not run in the next federal election. She had been named Conservative House leader in 2016 and was the party's deputy leader in 2020 under O'Toole.
Pierre Poilievre also wants to defund the CBC
Erin O'Toole wants to do significant damage to CBC Television and CBC News Network
We would love to see a Conservative Party leader who didn't view CBC, especially CBC News, as an enemy. Conservative news outlets dominate the Canadian news landscape. CBC News is only seen as a "threat" because they don't conform to the usual standard in most of Canadian journalism.
Je serai le premier ministre canadien anti-woke.
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) August 23, 2022
Aidez-moi à y arriver : https://t.co/ozY29fXrsl pic.twitter.com/75JyEwidx4
We aren't trying to pile on the new Conservative Party leader. Just trying to give an impression of the new opposition leader.
One criticism of recent Conservative federal leaders is their not-so-great handling of the French language. Poilievre doesn't have that issue.
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The Green Party should have a new leader on November 19 this year. The party has individuals — Sarah Gabrielle Baron and Simon Gnocchini-Messier — running for the leadership as well as dual-candidate slates — former Green leader Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault as well as Anna Keenan and Chad Walcott.
We will have new premiers in Alberta (October 6) and British Columbia (December 3).
photo credit: CBC News
Twitter capture: @PierrePoilievre
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