Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Quebec Liberal Party leadership candidate Philippe Couillard salutes supporters after the results are announced from the first ballot vote at the party's convention Sunday, March 17, 2013 in Montreal.  THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

The Quebec Liberal party has a new leader - former cabinet minister Philippe Couillard.

Couillard won a landslide first-ballot victory with 58.5 per cent at the party's leadership convention in Montreal today.

The surprise second-place finisher, former cabinet minister Pierre Moreau, ended up better than expected and has become a more powerful figure in the party.

The last-place finisher, Raymond Bachand, was the finance minister who was the architect of tuition hikes that sparked angry confrontational protests in the months before the Liberals were knocked out of power last year.

Couillard, 55, was health minister between 2003 and 2008.