Pierre Poilievre wakes up today as the new leader of the Conservative party, coming off a landslide victory. Before he can enjoy the victory, he has a list of things to do. The House of Commons is set to resume sitting in nine days, meaning Poilievre and his inner circle must decide who will take on critical party roles. Poilievre has no names to choose from, as 62 of the party’s 118 members have chosen to back him in the leadership campaign. He must also decide where to place MPs who were former leadership rivals: Scott Aitchison and Leslyn Lewis. The Conservative caucus is also expected to meet on Monday, where Poulievre and the MPs he leads — including those who did not back him in the race — will set their priorities for the fall. The results of Saturday’s leadership election show that Poilievre didn’t just win big, but really big. A detailed breakdown of the results shows he won nearly all of the country’s 338 ridings, including most of them in Quebec. That would be a disappointment to former provincial premier Jean Charest, who was Poilievre’s main opponent in the race. Charest announced in a video Sunday morning that he plans to return to the private sector, adding that it is time to unite behind a new leader. “I will continue to be active within the party,” he said. “I will continue to be a member of the party and I will continue to fight for the ideas I put forward.” Those ideas included defending the rule of law when it came to last winter’s so-called trucker convoy that shut down parts of downtown Ottawa for weeks. During the race, Charest had criticized Poilievre for embracing the protest, saying he can’t be taken seriously as a lawmaker for supporting an illegal blockade. In an opinion piece published Sunday in the National Post, former campaign co-chairman Mike Coates said Charest would not run in the next federal election and played down the idea that those in his leadership campaign are at all interested in forming their own party after defeat. in Poulievre. Poilievre’s support for the truckers’ convoy had some worried about his planned direction for the party, prompting speculation that his victory could see the party’s centrists and progressives look for another option. “The members have spoken,” Coates wrote. “It’s time for us partisans to do what we do best: Unite.” Another contender counting on Saturday’s results is Lewis. She won only about nine percent of support this time around, after beating earlier expectations for many party members with a strong third-place showing in the 2020 leadership contest. She ran as a social conservative and positioned herself as the only competitor in the race willing to introduce abortion policies, pledging to ban so-called selective abortions. The anti-abortion group Campaign Life Coalition is now calling on Poilievre to select Lewis to serve in one of the senior critic roles. He said doing so would show respect for the party’s socially conservative wing. Poilievre made a point to reach out to supporters of Lewis and Charest, as well as those who supported Aitchison and former Ontario legislator Roman Baber, in his victory speech. “I open my arms to you,” he said. Those who took the stage Saturday, including outgoing interim leader Candice Bergen, spoke of the need for party unity. Poilievre’s first-ballot victory with nearly 70 percent of support will be seen by many in the party as a good first step. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 11, 2022.
