Almost a year after a general election defeat, Canada’s Conservatives elected a new leader on Saturday, electing right-wing Pierre Poilievre to lead the opposition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Poilievre won 68 percent of the roughly 400,000 votes cast by party members in the first round, well ahead of his main rival, centrist former Quebec Prime Minister Jean Charest, with 16.07 percent.

Poilievre, 43, beat five contenders for the top Tory job by railing against inflation and Covid-19 vaccine mandates, promoting cryptocurrencies and pipelines and supporting the trucker-led protest convoy that occupied the capital Ottawa in February.

“Tonight begins the journey to replacing an old government that costs you more and gets you less with a new government that puts you first,” Poilievre said in a speech in Ottawa after his victory.

“By fighting liberal inflation, we give you back control of your life and your money,” he said, slamming Trudeau’s government as “the most expensive” in the country’s history.

Trudeau congratulated Poilievre on his win on Twitter and called for collaboration “to deliver results for people across the country.”

Poilievre, a veteran politician, served twice as deputy minister before Trudeau took office and was elected seven times to represent a suburban Ottawa borough.

He takes over the post of party leader from an interim leader who has held the post since Erin O’Toole was ousted in February after he was accused of pushing the party too close to the political center.

In the September 2021 election, the Conservatives failed to take power and won 119 seats in the House of Commons, compared to 160 for Trudeau’s Liberals. As in 2019, the Liberals had to form a new minority government.

The next federal election is scheduled for 2025.