The former Premier of Quebec and defeated candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, Jean Charest, will return to work in the private sector, but promises to continue to be involved as an activist within the political party.
“I will remain an active activist and I will continue to defend the ideas that I have proposed to you during this leadership race,” he said Sunday in a video shared on social networks.
His campaign manager Mike Coates specified, in a text published by the NationalPost, that Mr. Charest would not be a candidate in the next general election. He assured that the members of the team of the defeated aspirant did not intend to hold discussions with the aim of creating a new political formation. “The Conservative Party is our home. The members have spoken”, he wrote, calling for the rallying behind the new leader, Pierre Poilievre.
In his video, Mr. Charest was there with the same message, inviting the Conservative troops to unite behind the objective of defeating the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau.
“Now is the time for us to come together, to be united around a common project, an economic project, but also a project to unite Canada and elect a national Conservative government,” he said. .
The day before, he bit the dust by finishing the leadership race well behind Mr. Poilievre.
The new leader, who succeeds Erin O’Toole, won with 68% of the points at stake in the first round of the preferential ballot while Mr. Charest came second with only 16%.
The former Quebec premier only won a majority of points in a tiny handful of the 338 Canadian ridings. In Quebec, Mr. Poilievre won 72 of the 78 ridings.
Mr. Charest did not fail, on Sunday, to underline the intensity of the leadership race which has just ended.
” [Elle] took place in an exceptional context. We are coming out of COVID-19 and we have had very difficult years. Canadians are tired, frustrated and sometimes angry. »
The defeated hopeful praised all of his opponents, including Mr. Poilievre for “a dynamic campaign” and disqualified candidate Patrick Brown.
Saturday evening after the announcement of the results of the race, Conservative MPs from Quebec who supported Mr. Charest did not hide their disappointment.
“I would have liked a different score, of course, but we respect the choice of the militants”, reacted the elected representative of Louis-Saint-Laurent, Gérard Deltell.
His colleague Joël Godin, who had indicated in recent weeks that he intended to reflect on his future within the Conservative Party in the event of a victory for Mr. Poilievre, let it be known that he “would not slam[a] not the door tomorrow morning […] because that is the primary objective of remaining united”.
“I will have to be attentive, see what will happen and find compromises if I want to continue with the party [et ce sera] the same from my boss. We will have discussions. We’ll see,” he added.
Both Mr. Godin and Mr. Deltell pointed out that Mr. Poilievre won with a commanding lead.
In an interview given shortly before the announcement of the winner, Mr. Charest’s campaign president in Quebec, Alain Rayes, said he had “the feeling of accomplishment”.
Asked whether he intended to keep his party membership card regardless of the outcome of the vote, he replied “yes”.
“I am a proud Progressive Conservative. There are several fringes in this party and I will remain so. That, I can guarantee you, “he continued.
Around 400,000 Conservative members cast ballots to elect their new leader, far more than the 175,000 who voted in the previous leadership race.
Under the electoral process set out in the CCP’s constitution, each of the 338 electoral districts is worth 100 points and votes are distributed on a pro rata basis. When fewer than 100 votes are cast in a constituency, each vote is worth one point.
In the race which has just concluded, Pierre Poilievre collected 22,993 points out of the total of 33,800 points. Besides Jean Charest (5,421 points), the other defeated candidates are anti-abortion MP Leslyn Lewis (3,269 points), Roman Baber (1,696 points), a former Ontario MLA who was kicked out of caucus by Premier Doug Ford due to his opposition to sanitary confinements, as well as MP Scott Aitchison (356 points).