Conservatives ‘moving forward united’ after Pierre Poilievre win, party president says

The president of the Conservative Party of Canada says the party is “moving forward united” under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership.

Party veteran and former cabinet minister Poilievre won the leadership race Saturday night with 68 per cent support.

Party president Rob Batherson called it a “historic leadership election.”

Batherson said there has never in Canadian history been a political party with 678,000 members, which the Conservative Party achieved this year. He also said never before has there been a leadership election in which 418,000 Canadians cast a ballot.

“He won all electoral districts, all 25 electoral districts in the Maritimes, all 32 in Atlantic Canada,” Batherson said on the Global News Morning show in Halifax on Monday.

“We’ve never seen a victory of this size.”

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What Poilievre has campaigned on for the last two to three years, Batherson said, was the cost of living.

“That is going to be the singular focus going forward: how to make life more affordable for Nova Scotia families, New Brunswick families, P.E.I. families and Canadian families.”

Poilievre did not escape the political controversies around the COVID-19 vaccine federal mandates. In June this year, Poilievre said he supports “all Canadians who peacefully stand up for their rights” amid reports a second convoy protest was planned for Ottawa. At the time, he called vaccine mandates “unfair, unscientific bullying” and said he encourages “everyone to keep protesting government attacks on our freedoms.”

Batherson did not directly respond to a question on vaccines, but said Canadians are “feeling left out on a host of issues,” reiterating that the cost of food, gas and other living expenses is rising.

Conservative voters in Nova Scotia, a province with a high uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and high support for pandemic mandates, still chose to support Poilievre.

Batherson said it’s because of the cost-of-living crisis.

“The fight to make life more affordable for Canadians is going to continue, and when Parliament reconvenes within the next 10 days I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on that.”

Poilievre is now leader of the Official Opposition, also now known as His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, and the House of Commons is scheduled to resume sitting on Sept. 19.

— with files from The Canadian Press.