Pierre Poilievre won the Conservative leadfership on Saturday night. He won with a total of 68% of the vote. Jeann Charest was a distant second, with only 16% of the vote. As one commentator said on Saturday night, this was more than anti-vaccers voting for him. Pierre Polievre owns the Conservative party.
Between football games, I watched the first 8 to 10 minutes of his speech. There is no doubt he is an accomplished orator, in both English and French. I can not say how the rest of his speech went, but the first few minutes was quite conciliatary to his fellow candidates and not hair raising at all. His family history surprised me somewhat. His biolkogical mother gave him up for adoption at age 16. Also, his adoptive father is gay. Poilievre had been against gay marriasge until 2020.
Poilievre will definitely shift his party to the right. Many conservatives will say that the Party lost the last election because, then leader, Erin O’Toole, tried to be in the middle too much. Poilievre will, with a wink and a nudge, appear to try to do the same. But, images of him with right wing extremists, such as the guy who verbally attacked Krystia Freeland, in Grande Prairie, many will say, show his true colours. There are fears, on the left, that Poilievre is Canada’s version of Trump and that Poilievre might actually carry the Conservatives to victory in the next election. Well, the next election might not happen for another three years. In politics, a lot can change in a day, let alone three years. Also, a recent poll showed that Canadians preferred Jean Charest as leader, over Poilievre, by 50% to 33%. On the other side of the coin, Canasdians have a tendency to change ruling parties every ten years, so we will see.