By Sean Boynton , Global News
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is projected to lose his Ottawa riding of Carleton, after facing stiff competition for a seat he had held for 20 years.
Poilievre was ultimately ousted during Monday’s federal election by Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy, who coalesced opposition votes at the expense of the NDP and nearly 90 other candidates who also sought to challenge the Conservative leader.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose Liberals are projected to form government, joked during his victory speech in Ottawa early Tuesday morning that Fanjoy “will be a great MP” as early results showed Fanjoy ahead throughout Monday evening.
“I look forward to working with Bruce Fanjoy,” he said with a smile.
As of Tuesday, Fanjoy was ahead of Poilievre by more than four points, with 99 per cent of polls reporting. Poilievre never held a lead as results steadily came in. Poilievre lost despite his Conservatives gaining ridings from both the Liberals and the NDP to form the largest official opposition in Canadian history. His loss means the Conservatives, at least temporarily, will be without a party leader in the House of Commons. “It will be an honour to continue to fight for you and be a champion for your cause as we go forward,” Poilievre told a cheering crowd at Conservative campaign headquarters in Ottawa early Tuesday morning before his riding was called.
It marks the first time a Conservative party leader has lost their seat in an election since former prime minister Kim Campbell was defeated in 1993. Campbell at the time led the Progressive Conservatives, which later became the modern Conservative Party.
The result is a shocking turn of events for Poilievre, who decisively won the Conservative leadership in 2022 and led the party to a double-digit polling lead over the Liberals.
That lead eroded after former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign in January, and Carney succeeded him in March. Carleton covers suburban parts of Ottawa, which is home to many workers in the federal public service that Poilievre vowed on the campaign trail to cut as part of his plan to find savings and reduce spending.
By contrast, the Liberals’ platform committed to “capping, not cutting, public service employment.”..
Source: globalnews.ca/news
