St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper is “very excited” about Pierre Poilievre being voted in as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
“I've known Pierre for 22 years. I've known him for a very long time, and I count him as a good friend,” said Cooper.
On Sept. 10, Poilievre became the new leader for the CPC with more than 68 per cent of the votes on the first ballot following four months of campaigning with five other leadership candidates.
Poilievre was the clear favourite in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding.
Altogether, there were 2,170 votes in the riding. Poilievre received 1,711 votes. Leslyn Lewis came in second place in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding with 238 votes; Jean Charest received 137 votes; Roman Baber got 55 votes; and Scott Aitchison came in last place with 29 votes in the riding.
Cooper said Poilievre brought a message to the table the other candidates didn't.
“Pierre’s message resonates, and he is well known, particularly for a leadership role that he played as our finance critic. And the response on the ground was overwhelmingly positive,” said Cooper.
Cooper said an "unprecedented" number of memberships were sold across Canada.
The number of eligible CPC members in June 2020 for the election of Erin O’Toole as leader was 261,984. That number exploded to 678,708 for this leadership vote.
“We as a party have never had this many members — the vast majority of which were signed up by Pierre’s campaign. And so, I think it reflects the fact that people recognize that Pierre is the leader that Canada needs,” said Cooper.
When it comes to the number of St. Albert-Edmonton CPC members, Cooper said at the start of the leadership campaign the St. Albert-Edmonton electoral district association had around 600 to 700 members. That number has since ballooned to more than 3,200 members.
“I've been involved in the party for more than 20 years. I'd say, never have we had as many members as we have today. And, again, much of that were memberships for people who signed up to support Pierre,” he said.
The CPC has seen a revolving door of leaders since former premier Stephan Harper resigned in 2015 following his loss against Premier Justin Trudeau in the 2015 general federal election.
After Harper resigned, Rona Ambrose took the helm as interim CPC leader until Andrew Scheer was elected on May 27, 2017. Scheer resigned in December 2019 after the party lost the 2019 general federal election to Trudeau, and allegations surfaced that he was using Conservative Party money to pay for his children’s private schooling, as reported by The Globe and Mail.
Scheer remained leader until Erin O’Toole was voted in in August of 2020.
O’Toole resigned as leader of the CPC in February of 2022 after the majority of Conservative MPs voted against him in a leadership review. Candice Bergen was immediately voted in as interim leader until Poilievre took the reins this fall.
Cooper said Poilievre is different than Scheer and O’Toole, as “they never did win the kind of overwhelming mandate that Pierre has won.”
“The party is strong; our caucus is united, and we're going to get back to the house and work to hold the Liberals to account and present to Canadians the government in waiting and get ready to fight and win an election that can happen at any time.”
It remains to be seen whether Poilievre can stay in power, and if Canadians will be open to his catchphrase policies (#JustinFlation).
An online poll conducted by Leger/The Canadian Press which surveyed 1,522 Canadians from Sept. 16 to 18 found if an election were held today, of decided voters, 34 per cent would vote for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party of Canada, while 28 per cent would vote for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
When the same poll asked which federal party leader would make the best prime minister of Canada, Poilievre fell short with 21 per cent of the votes. Trudeau received 24 per cent of the votes.
