The winner of the 2022 Conservative Leadership Race, Pierre Poilievre was no surprise. He was out the door and miles ahead of the other candidates from the start. Poilievre won on the first ballot, receiving 68% support. The closest of his four rivals was former Quebec Premier, Jean Charest at 16%, Leslyn Lewis, a social conservative, acquired 9.69%; former Ontario MPP, Roman Baber, took 5.03%, while MP Scott Aitchison took about 1% of the points.
The Candidates
Poilievre seems to be genuine in his concern for the working people who are suffering so much from the high inflation rate. Mr. Poilievre, however, is not on the same track as social conservatives on abortion and homosexuality (conversion therapy). He voted though, against the euthanasia bill, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). Social conservatives will be watching Poilievre very carefully. We will be vigilant in observing his reactions in regard to our values.
Charest, the candidate who was thrown into the race by the beleaguered Red Tories, wandered through the campaign in a daze, seemingly confused by the political environment so different from his heyday in the 1990’s as a Conservative MP and as the Quebec Liberal Premier in the early 2000’s.
Charest seemed genuinely bewildered by the fact that the Liberals and the Conservatives were no longer cooperating together in support of shared left-of-centre policies. He never once considered that this was THE major problem with his campaign.
Leslyn Lewis did her best, speaking against euthanasia, sex-selective abortion, vaccine mandates and the World Economic Forum (WEF). She will continue to do so as a sitting MP.
Roman Baber remained steadfast during the leadership race against vaccine mandates – the political position that caused him to be booted out of the Ontario Conservative caucus by Premier Ford. His platform, apart from vaccines, did not differ much from that of Charest and Aitchison.
Scott Aitchison piously pronounced throughout the campaign that the candidates, and all politicians in general, should be nice to each other and respectful. That was his position, until he saw a chance, late in the campaign, to attack Leslyn Lewis, nastily accusing her of being a conspiracy theorist.
Social Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre
Mr. Poilievre has an opportunity to defeat the tone deaf, lecturing, woke Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. We hope in the course of doing so that he respects, understands and values the perspective of social conservatives. We will wait and see.