Pierre Poilievre Wins Conservative Leadership Race On First Ballot (70.7% Of The Vote)

Well, it was not shocking that Carlton MP Pierre Poilievre won the Conservative Party leadership race, but that does not mean it is not impressive that Poilievre was able to win the leadership race on the first ballot with 68.2 percent of the points available (100 points per riding) and 70.7 percent of the vote.

Behind Poilievre, Leslyn Lewis captured 9.7 percent, Jean Charest took 16.1 percent, Roman Baber took 5 percent, and Scott Aitchison took 1.1 percent.

From the beginning of the leadership race, the feeling existed that Poilievre in some way had already earned the support of the CPC base from his consistent tough opposition to Justin Trudeau’s Liberal since they formed government in 2015.

Poilievre seems to be made for this moment in Canadian politics seeing as he is the most fiscally hawkish of the Conservative Members of Parliament, at a time when runaway inflation and wasteful government spending are some of the biggest issues in the country. 

Poilievre’s greatest moment in politics so far probably was his investigation of the Trudeau WE Charity scandal, where he pushed back on the PMOs corruption so much so that Justin Trudeau had then Finance Minister Bill Morneau resign from office in order to take the fall for the scandal. 

The climax of that scandal was Poilievre throwing sheets of blacked-out emails, pertaining to the WE Charity’s education deal with the Canadian government, around during a press conference; a lesson in political theatrics.  

It demonstrates why Pierre Polievre will be so dangerous to the ongoing political career of Justin Trudeau, who already has a very low approval rating. Poilieve can make Canadian politics interesting to the general public, which is no doubt why so many Canadians signed up for Conservative Party memberships to back him in the CPC leadership race.

Poilieve may not be much of a social conservative, but socons at least appreciate he brands himself as being anti-Woke and will stand against the far-left social narratives of the Liberal Party, and moves Canada’s political Overton Window back towards the right. 

It is not clear if there will be an election before the end of 2022, but it seems like it is in Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party’s best interest to call an election against Poilieve’s Conservatives early, while Pierre’s name recognition is still fairly low.

Even then Pierre Poilieve still likely has the upper hand on Trudeau going forward.

Note:

Although currency Brampton Mayor, and former Ontario PC leader, Patrick Brown was listed on the ballot sent out to CPC members, he was disqualified earlier in the race due to evidence of election finance fraud, and allegations of other unethical behaviour by his campaign.