BREAKING: Pierre Poilievre elected Conservative leader on first ballot with 68%
September 10, 2022 (Ottawa, Canada): Conservative members have elected Pierre Poilievre as their new leader. The Conservative party announced the results of this year’s leadership race before members in Ottawa Saturday evening.
Poilievre took the top post of the party on the first round with 68% of the points, defeating his main contender former premier of Quebec Jean Charest.
The party elected its new leader using a point system, which allowed each of Canada’s 338 ridings to award 100 points, proportional to how many votes candidates received in each riding.
Poilievre will replace interim leader Candice Bergen, who recently announced she plans on retiring from politics by the next election. Bergen also offered her full support to whoever became leader a few days prior to the election results.
Saturday’s leadership announcement was altered to accommodate the mourning of Queen Elizabeth II’s death who died Thursday at Balmoral, her Scottish summer residence.
The Conservatives held a moment of tribute to Her Majesty. MPs donned customary black attire to mark the period of mourning.
The new leader released a statement earlier this week giving his regards to the Royal Family.
“It is with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Canada’s Head of State, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” wrote Poilievre on Thursday.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the members of the Royal Family as they grieve this very great loss. God Save the King.”
Throughout his campaign, Poilievre ran on freedom, affordability, and a vow to remove “gatekeepers” that stand in the way of individual liberty.
Poilievre’s promises included reforming the tax system, capping government spending, upholding freedom of speech and introducing a plain language law to make official documents more easily understandable for Canadians.
Source: True North