Pierre Poilievre was named the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada on Saturday night after earning 68.15 per cent of the vote on the first ballot.
Poilievre is the party’s third leader since former prime minister Stephen Harper’s left politics in 2015. It means Poilievre, 43, leads the party into the next federal election when it is called.
“Tonight begins the journey to replace an old government that costs you more and delivers you less with a new government that puts you first,” Poilievre told a crowd of supporters in Ottawa, Ont.
“By tackling Liberal inflation, we’ll put you back in control of your life and your money.”
Four other candidates vyed for the leadership role: Scott Aitchison, Leslyn Lewis, Jean Charest and Roman Baber.
“To supporters of all of these fine candidates, I open my arms to you,” said Poilievre, prompting cheers from the audience.
“Now today, we are one party serving one country.”
Poilievre’s platform focused on six main campaign points: energy, government spending, free speech, housing, immigration and government reform of the Bank of Canada.
Poilievre promised to cancel Ottawa’s carbon tax and build more pipelines. He says Canada would rely on technology to tackle its greenhouse-gas emissions.
He also promised to cap federal spending at its budgeted amount and find savings when something new is added. Poilievre said emergencies would be exempt from this rule.
Poilievre said he would promote free speech at universities by withholding federal funding to institutions that don’t commit to doing so.
Poilievre said he’d force cities to increase home construction by 15 per cent or risk losing federal funding. Incentives include paying areas for each new home and turning federal properties into affordable housing.
He also promised to incentivize provinces to ensure licensing bodies rule on newcomers’ applications within 60 days. Poilievre said he would provide more study loans to those immigrating to Canada.
Like former leader Andrew Sheer, Poilievre proposed to subject the Bank of Canada to the auditor general, ban its proposed digital currency and fire Tiff Macklem as governor over high inflation.