Canada’s opposition Conservative Party votes to keep leader Poilievre

OTTAWA: Canada’s opposition Conservative Party has voted overwhelmingly to retain Pierre Poilievre as its leader after a leadership review called following its defeat in a federal election.

The party said at a convention in the city of Calgary on Saturday that Poilievre won 87.4 percent of votes cast in the review mandated after the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, defeated the Conservatives in the election last April.

Under Poilievre, the Conservatives had held a more than 20-point lead over the Liberals last January but US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to make Canada the 51st US state united much of the country behind Carney.

Poilievre lost his own seat in the election but returned to parliament after winning a by-election in August.

Before the leadership review, Ashton Arsenault, a former ministerial staffer under ex-Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Poilievre should aim to win at least 75 percent of the vote to demonstrate the party’s confidence in his leadership.

“That lets every outside observer and party member know that people are behind (Poilievre) and this is the horse we’re riding with in the next election,” Arsenault said.