Anaida Poilievre, wife of new Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, touches his chin as they listen to speeches at the party's leadership vote, in Ottawa (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)

By The Canadian Press/VM Staff

New leader

Pierre Poilievre elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

Sep 10, 2022 | 5:25 PM

Pierre Poilievre, one of the first members of Parliament elected under the Conservative party’s banner, is now its leader.

The former cabinet minister, known for his combative style, won a first-ballot victory with 68.15 per cent support as the results were announced before a room of Conservative faithful in Ottawa on Saturday.

Jean Charest got 16.07 per cent of the points allocated in the preferential ballot election.

Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis garnered 9.69 per cent of the points. Former Ontario MPP Roman Baber, a vocal critic of COVID restrictions, took 5.03 per cent, while MP Scott Aitchison, a former mayor in Ontario’s cottage country, took about 1 per cent of the points.

Poilievre, first elected as a member of Parliament at the age of 25, campaigned for the top job on the central rallying cry of “freedom.”

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The 43-year-old Calgary native embraced those who opposed getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and railed against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government spending and the toll inflation is taking on Canadians.

Poilievre, the MP for Carleton in Ontario, turned heads in the campaign when he began appearing in front of crowds that at times swelled into the thousands, which he kept up throughout the race.

That prompted his campaign to say his populist message had unleashed a movement, which it galvanized to sell more than 300,000 memberships.

(The Canadian Press)