Pierre Poilievre wins Conservative leadership race

OTTAWA - Pierre Poilievre decisively won leadership of the Conservative party Saturday night, setting the stage for a new era in Canadian politics.

His stunning and substantial first-ballot victory marks a generational change for conservative politics and a resolute endorsement of his campaign's central strategy: that outreach to the disconnected and disaffected is the path to power.

This is not my victory. It is yours," the new leader said to raucous cheers within moments of his win.

Poilievre captured 68.15 per cent of the available points in the contest; his closest competitor was former Quebec premier and Progressive Conservative leader Jean Charest at 16 per cent.

In third was MP Leslyn Lewis, in fourth former Ontario MPP Roman Baber and in last place, MP Scott Aitchison.

Poilievre, 43, never once took his foot off the gas over a seven-month campaign fuelled by the anger and frustrations of a nation emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertain about what comes next.

The seven-term Ottawa MP drew hundreds of thousands of people to his bid from communities as diverse as the so-called Freedom Convoy" movement to the upper echelons of the conservative establishment.

His campaign had the support of the founding father of the modern-day Conservative party - former leader and prime minister Stephen Harper, in whose cabinet Poilievre served.

Yet his victory nonetheless is a transition away from the analog days of the Harper Tories and towards a new way of thinking about and applying conservative principles for the digital age.

Many of the policies Poilievre campaigned on - cutting taxes, decreasing regulation around oil and gas production, streamlining immigration and rebuilding Canada's manufacturing capacity - aren't new to the conservative policy playbook.

But his ability to distill those concepts into messages - and often tweets and videos - that resonated with hundreds of thousands of Canadians saw him leap well ahead of his competitors from the early days of the contest.

All those who flocked behind him have a central concern, he said Saturday night - that they can't get ahead in their lives.

There are people in this country who are just hanging on by a thread," he said.

These are citizens of our country. We are their servants, we owe them hope."

Still, Poilievre's attacks on the Bank of Canada, his tilt toward conspiracy theories around the World Economic Forum and his support for the anti-vaccine-mandate movement unsettled some centrist Conservatives.

Many worry his anti-establishment rhetoric - a main theme was to remove the gatekeepers" - will alienate the middle part of the political spectrum that's home to the majority of voters.

Ed Fast, a Conservative MP and Charest backer who lost his job as finance critic after criticizing Poilievre's economic policies, said in an interview he still sees himself as part of the team.

But Fast says that doesn't mean he's going to stop speaking truth to power,"and hopes he can help shape the policies and ideas the Conservative team will take to Canadians.

We're all a Conservative family, we can have differences of opinion," he said.

Poilievre paid tribute to the other candidates in the contest, thanking them for their ideas and contributions - even Charest, who he insulted and attacked throughout the seven-month-long contest, calling him a Liberal and corrupt.

Thank you for your service to our country," Poilievre said, referring as well to Charest's work fending off the Quebec separatist movement during his time as helm of that province.

Charest did that as leader of the Quebec Liberals, the only federalist party in the province at the time. He left the event Saturday night without talking to reporters.

To supporters of all of these fine candidates, I open my arms to you," Poilievre said.

We are one party, serving one country."

Poilievre's victory will give the party new energy and direction as it now embarks on the ultimate goal: defeating the Liberals under Justin Trudeau and winning government.

And the crushing of his competitors gives him a clear mandate to proceed - Baber himself acknowledged that as he left the convention centre after the results were announced.

I'm confident that he will continue to make good on his word, by defending choice and our freedom of speech," he said.

In some ways, Poilievre's win was an echo of Trudeau's landslide win of the Liberal party leadership race in 2013, a victory that saw the nearly moribund party reinvigorated.

Just two years later, it would go on to trounce the Conservatives under Harper and win government.

Liberal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc was at Saturday's event, and said his party congratulates Poilievre and doesn't underestimate" his win.

Winning a leadership race is not the same as winning a general election, LeBlanc said, and the new Conservative leader will have to shed his reckless and irresponsible" promises.

He now has a responsibility in our view, to offer solutions that aren't simplistic and irresponsible," he said.

Saying that the best measure to protect Canadians from inflation is to buy bitcoin or cryptocurrencies doesn't feel like a serious economic policy. Firing the governor of the Bank of Canada is something that no Conservative prime minister would have ever done."

Those particular ideas did not resurface in Poilievre's inaugural address to party members, though he repeated other campaign promises like speeding up credential recognition for newcomers, building more homes and cutting taxes.

The night was more sombre than the party had hoped, coming in the shadow of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. A tribute to the Queen was delivered at the outset of the evening, and Poilievre as well acknowledged her death in his remarks.

As Conservative leader, Poilievre is also now leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

The ranks of the Conservative party swelled to 678,000 over the course of the race, a number that's higher than the last two leadership campaigns combined.

Of those, 417,987 people cast valid ballots, a figure the party has said is the largest number of people to ever vote in a leadership election of any party.

The party uses a ranked ballot and who wins is determined by points.

Each riding in Canada is allocated a maximum of 100 points and how many a candidate receives is based on their vote share in that riding.

Ahead of the results tally Saturday night, Aitchison - who ultimately finished last - said he was glad the contest was over and the party could now get to work.

He said the size of the membership speaks to the need for political change in Canada.

I see it as a pretty wide swath of Canadians who are frustrated and fed up," he said.

With files from Tonda MacCharles.

Stephanie Levitz is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @StephanieLevitz