In rare interview, Poilievre's campaign chief says she regrets riding loss
'I do wish that we had seen what was happening in Pierre's riding sooner than what we did,' Byrne said in an interview on the 'Beyond a Ballot' podcast this week.
In the interview, Byrne's first since the April election, she spoke about the campaign and what's next for her following her time as one of Poilievre's top advisers.
The longtime political strategist, who also served as an adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper during his years in government, told the podcast that despite her regret about not recognizing trouble in Poilievre's riding, she isn't sure they could have done much at the time.
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'It would've been late, so late that moving seats would have been strange, and there were not a lot of seats left,' she said.
In the last days of the federal campaign, there was growing speculation that Poilievre was in danger of losing his longtime Ottawa-area riding of Carleton — a result that came to fruition on election night when Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy unseated the seven-term MP.
Byrne said during the podcast that Poilievre previously addressed this following his loss, but said the seat had changed 'a lot' in the past 20 years.
However, she added Poilievre's remarks during the campaign that cuts would be made to the federal public service may have upset voters in his riding, which is rural in some areas while also being home to a growing number of subdivisions in Ottawa's southwestern suburbs.
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Poilievre is currently seeking to return to Parliament in the byelection for the Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot on Aug. 18.
She was also asked about the party losing its fourth straight election, despite most polls in early January showing they had a 20-point lead that rapidly narrowed after former prime minister Justin Trudeau resigned and U.S. President Donald Trump entered office.
0:57
Poilievre calls 'longest ballot' protest in his new riding a 'scam'
Pointing to the results the Conservatives got in the popular vote, 41 per cent, Byrne said they stayed about where polls predicted they'd land in terms of percentage, but NDP and Bloc Québécois votes shifted.
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'The factor was that there were a certain segment of people that looked at Carney as change, and you had NDP voters, and Bloc voters for that matter, who kind of were concerned about Trump, and they went to Carney,' she said.
Byrne defended the campaign's focus on affordability and cost of living even as Trump became a focus of the federal election.
Byrne said she had spoken with voters who said the party's focus on affordability and housing appealed to them.
'We didn't get distracted in terms of Trump. Did we talk about Trump, every single day … it just didn't mean that that was going to be the only thing that we talked about,' she said.
'The Liberals wanted to talk about Trump. I think they were trying to bait us into talking about Trump, and from a practical point of view, I don't know what we would have said every day. It would have turned off or at least, not turned off, but demotivated the group of people that ended up coming.'
When asked what's next, Byrne confirmed she will stay on as an adviser for the Conservatives and Poilievre, but she won't be leading the national campaign whenever the next federal election is held.
'I've stepped back from the day-to-day and I am not going to run the next campaign,' she said. 'For me, when I run campaigns, it is a full-time job.'
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2:13
Poilievre begins political comeback attempt on sidelines of Parliament
She said she wants to give her full time to her consulting business.
Byrne also criticized Carney, saying there's been 'no change.'
'Carney speaks a big game, but he's not accomplished anything,' she said.
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Click to share quote on Twitter: "Carney speaks a big game, but he's not accomplished anything," she said.
'Nothing's changed on immigration, nothing has changed on crime, and also he seems to be stringing the premiers and everyone along in terms of the 20 nation-building projects. It looks like we're nowhere closer to getting those.'
It's why, she added, she believes Poilievre remains the right leader for the Conservatives and that party members just need to be patient for him to become prime minister.
'It is unfortunately going to be a two-step process as opposed to a one-step process,' she said.
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— With files from Global News' Alex Boutilier
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CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
The controversy over Canada's rules on military exports to Israel, explained
Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) OTTAWA — A Canadian senator is calling on Ottawa to be more transparent on its policy to restrict arms exports to Israel, following contradictory reports about what manufacturers have been allowed to send to the Middle East. 'I'm horrified to hear this news about certain arms exports and parts going to Israel, directly or indirectly,' Sen. Yuen Pau Woo said in an interview with The Canadian Press. 'Civilians are being killed and starved, and the Israeli government has only made things worse.' Ottawa insists it hasn't been allowing exports of lethal weapons to Israel and has been blocking any military goods that could be used in Gaza. Here's a look at what we know — and don't know — about Ottawa's efforts to keep Canadian weapons out of Gaza while allowing Israel to import military goods for other purposes. What is Canada holding back from Israel? In March 2024, Parliament voted in favour of a non-binding motion to halt new arms permits for Israel. The government announced a review of export permits and suspended about 30 of them to determine whether they involved lethal uses. Ottawa has allowed all other military export permits for Israel to continue. There were 164 such permits used to export military goods to Israel in 2024, and some of them are valid for years. Of the 30 suspended permits, some have expired and the rest remain suspended, says Global Affairs Canada. In March 2024, the office of then-foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly said that none of the valid permits allowed for the export of 'lethal goods' to Israel, such as weapons technology and equipment. Her office also said Canada stopped approving permits for Israel on Jan. 8, 2024, citing human rights concerns. While Israel's foreign minister suggested at the time the decision would undermine Israel's ability to defend itself, Israeli Ambassador Iddo Moed said 'we will be able to continue to defend ourselves.' What is Canada still allowing into Israel? Ottawa has said its restrictions exclude 'non-lethal' equipment. The government provided Parliament with a list of all existing permits in June 2024. The list mentions circuit boards well over a hundred times. In September 2024, after the U.S. State Department approved the purchase of mortar cartridges made in Quebec for Israel, Joly said Canadian-made weapons were prohibited from reaching the Gaza Strip. 'We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza, period,' Joly said at the time. 'How they're being sent and where they're being sent is irrelevant.' Anand said in an Aug. 1 statement that this pledge actually goes back to January 2024. Groups like Project Ploughshares argue the term 'non-lethal' is poorly defined and misleading. Activists say Israel can use Canadian-made components such as lenses and cameras in the Gaza war and in military campaigns in the West Bank, despite Ottawa saying Israel is violating international law in both theatres. What does Israeli customs data say? In late July, pro-Palestinian activists reported that the Israel Tax Authority had listed publicly imports from Canada that were officially recorded in customs data as bullets, guns and other weapons. The data suggested 175,000 bullets were sent from Canada to Israel under the customs code that Israel uses for 'munitions of war and parts thereof,' with three similar shipments in 2024. Israeli customs agents recorded another Canadian shipment in the category of 'tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, motorized, whether or not fitted with weapons, and parts of such vehicles.' It took the Canadian government three days to respond to the claims. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand's office said it took the time 'to verify if any of the serious allegations of wrongdoing were true.' In her reply, Anand said the report was flawed and its findings 'are misleading and significantly misrepresent the facts.' The bullets were 'paintball-style projectiles' that cannot be used in combat, Anand's office said. Sen. Woo called that explanation trivializing and suggested Israel is likely using those materials to train its soldiers. Woo was among 32 senators — a third of the Senate — who called for a thorough investigation into what's reaching Israel from Canada. He called Anand's statement 'very limited, slippery and highly defensive.' 'She missed an opportunity to grasp the gravity of the situation in Gaza,' he said. What about aircraft? Advocates argue Canadian components are being used in Israeli fighter jets and drones, citing exports of items such as circuit boards and scopes or cameras. The July report noted that specific companies in Israel receiving Canadian imports have also been equipping Israel's offensive in Gaza. The report pointed to no direct, explicit evidence that Canadian arms had been used on the ground in Gaza. Ottawa insists it is doing everything it can to ensure Canadian components aren't used in Gaza. What about that parliamentary report? On Aug. 4, the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council released a report assembled by the Library of Parliament that it said disproves much of what the government has claimed. The July 8 report is marked 'not to be published' and the Library of Parliament said in a statement that it 'provides impartial customized research services for individual parliamentarians,' on the basis that the 'client's research request (will) remain confidential.' The government says the report is a rehash of publicly available information that doesn't contradict what the government has said publicly. Advocates seized on the portion of the report showing two arms permits to send goods to Israel were issued in 2024. Anand's office noted the permits were disclosed to Parliament last June and were issued on Jan. 8, 2024, the day Ottawa stopped issuing new permits. The advocates also noted that the report cited $2.3 million in Canadian sales to Israel listed as 'bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges and related accessories, components and equipment.' Anand's spokesman James Fitz-Morris wrote that these were 'electronic components for detection equipment' in Israel's Iron Dome system, which intercepts and destroys incoming rockets. Did Carney change the Trudeau government's policy? While the government insists it hasn't changed policies, its language has shifted. Joly and her office spoke about non-lethal uses for arms. Anand has avoided that language. 'For a year and a half, we have been clear: if an export permit for an item used to protect civilians is requested, it will be approved,' her office wrote in a statement this week. 'Canada has not approved the export of any lethal weapons or munitions to Israel since January 2024, and any such permit that could have allowed such items were suspended and remains inactive today.' Woo said Anand is 'prevaricating, with the shift in language and … an effort to try to be legalistic about the government's adherence to its own promise.' Fitz-Morris wrote that it would be 'a disingenuous claim, at best' to suggest Ottawa's language has been shifting. 'The government's position has not changed. Minister Anand is not reading from a script. She uses different words sometimes to convey the same message or to add clarity, depending on the circumstances and what she is responding to,' he wrote. 'The only permits that may be granted are for the items used to defend civilians, such as the Iron Dome, and items that are transiting through Israel as part of the global supply chain such as items (whose) end-users include Canada and/or NATO allies.' Why not end all arms exports to Israel? The government says it would compromise the complex supply chains that Canada and its allies rely on if Canada refused to export military goods to Israel, or to import them from that country. 'Any consideration of a two-way arms embargo that would block Israeli-made components from entering Canada would need to take into consideration the impact that would have on Canada, including the (Canadian Armed Forces),' Fitz-Morris wrote. Sen. Woo said Anand should halt all military trade with Israel. 'She's digging a deeper hole for herself and for our government, particularly if there are in fact legal consequences around complicity, aiding and abetting war crimes,' he said. 'We are witnessing, in the memorable words of Amnesty International, a live-streamed genocide. It's tearing at our souls.' Israel says it's in an existential war of self-defence and blames Hamas for the high casualty count. What do Canadians want? In an online survey of 1,522 Canadians conducted by the Angus Reid Institute from July 31 to Aug. 5, 54 per cent said they want Ottawa to ensure Canada is not selling lethal military equipment to Israel. One-fifth of respondents said they want the restrictions dropped. Another 27 per cent said they were unsure or opted not to respond. Is the government being transparent? 'The Government of Canada tables regular reports concerning arms exports and has provided thousands of pages of documentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs — which the committee then published to its website,' Fitz-Morris wrote. That's not good enough, Woo said. 'To play with words, when a genocide is happening before our very eyes … it's scandalous,' he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
Globe and Mail
7 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Letters to the editor, Aug. 10: ‘Canada should now take all concessions off the table … it is time to be tough against a tyrant'
Re 'Poilievre says Carney has failed with Trump, urges narrow countertariffs' (Aug. 8): I worry that Canada might capitulate to bullying from Washington like so many other countries have done. From my perspective, Canada should now take all concessions off the table, including elimination of the digital services tax. Canada should also impose tariffs on non-USMCA-compliant vehicles and other goods from the United States. Hit back on any other items that can generate revenue to compensate our people from the impact of tariffs, including energy and oil and gas. Perhaps Canada and Britain can reach a deal on steel. Both countries export to the U.S; if what each country makes complements the loss of U.S. trade, it could be win-win. It is time to be tough against a tyrant. Bullies are encouraged by acquiescence. Fawning is disgusting and encourages him. Janet Henley St. John's Re 'Carney announces $1.2-billion in lumber industry supports' (Report on Business, Aug. 6): Get around U.S. softwood tariffs by going metric. Years ago, we went metric for weights and measurements at great expense, for little payback. There would certainly be costs involved, but if we went metric on softwood manufacturing, then the world would be our market and not just the United States. We would lose the U.S. market, but then, as Donald Trump said, they 'don't need anything Canada has.' Frank Best Collingwood, Ont. Re 'Trump's firing of economic data collector raises alarm' (Aug. 4): Examples from Greece, China, and Argentina of the disastrous results of political interference in non-political institutions are helpful. But we don't have to look far to see similar examples much closer to home. Not long ago, the Harper government didn't seem to like the policy implications of demographic information, so the long-form census was cancelled; for similar reasons, scientific input into public discourse was silenced. And there are more current provincial examples of attacks on public institutions and processes. Institutional interference that serves only political purposes is always corrosive. It is well and good to be reminded of this by observing the international experience. However, that does not obviate the need to be aware of the same phenomena, past and present, occurring right here. Kent Sargeant Calgary Re 'How Norway cracked the electric-vehicle code' (Aug. 1): Here's one way to shift to more electric vehicles. Fully charged EV batteries should be modular and available for exchange at gas stations. It should take less than one minute when all EVs are designed for quick battery replacement. The removed batteries should then be sent to large central facilities that refurbish and recharge them, then send them back to services stations. Motorists don't own the batteries; the cost could be added to monthly electricity bills. This method would require little new infrastructure and no need for motorists to replace expensive long-term batteries. 'Refuelling' times would be faster than filling a tank with gasoline. Frank Foulkes Professor emeritus, department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, University of Toronto Re 'What's in a number?' (Letters, Aug. 2): Several correspondents have argued strongly for lowering the voting age to 16. That, by lowering the voting age, democracy is strengthened. That, in particular, it is our youth who will have to live with the downstream results of today's political decisions. And, at present, the future has no vote. So why stop at 16? Since those under 16 have even more riding on the future, their votes should be cast by their mothers, acting on their behalves. I guarantee child poverty and related issues would be cleared up within a couple of election cycles. Just look at what the senior vote did for my demographic. Here is an opportunity for Canada to show the world we take the future of our youngsters very seriously. Allan Portis Toronto Re 'A long ballot satire within satire' (July 30): So the Longest Ballot Committee believes that election laws would be better made by a citizens' assembly. Why stop there? Given the issues with electoral politics on every file, why not turn Parliament itself into a citizens' assembly – that is, appoint members by random lottery? (The modern term for this is sortition.) If they want real democracy, regardless of leaning left or right, return democracy to its roots: This is how officials were appointed in ancient Athens, where elections were deprecated by Aristotle as a recipe for oligarchy. People on juries act seriously. It can work in Parliament, too. Mark Tilley Middlesex County, Ont. Re 'Vancouver mourns the loss of its iconic Kitsilano Beach log' (Aug. 2): While I understand the city's concern for safety, the removal of the beloved giant driftwood from Kitsilano Beach without thought for the community has truly left us saddened. For generations, this magnificent piece served as a play area for children, a sunset gathering spot for friends and families and no less a peaceful place for meditation for many of us. It wasn't just a piece of wood, it was a keeper of memories and a symbol of community connection. It's not too late to commemorate this driftwood's profound impact. I urge Vancouver officials to work with residents to create a meaningful legacy, be it through an art installation, a memorial plaque, poetry embedded nearby or ultimately a safe, remodelled structure that pays tribute to the original. Beryl Woodrow Vancouver Re 'Cleaning after my mother's death taught me about what can't be replaced' (First Person, Aug. 1): I, too, despaired at the task of cleaning out my mother's home after she died almost two years ago. My mom was also an organized 'keeper.' When I would gently chastise her for the multiple accumulated notepads, or stacks of balls of wool we'd come across while valiantly searching for some other crucial item, she'd smile and say, 'I will use them one day!' I'm now ashamed that this occasionally annoyed me. (I did, surreptitiously, do away with my childhood Encyclopedia Britannica set. I'm sure she noticed, but didn't say a word.) The smallest things made my heart skip a beat when I came across them after her death: her favourite lipstick tucked in the back of a drawer, a delicate and frayed silk scarf not worn for years, a copy of a note to a dear friend. I carry one of her many handwritten shopping lists-bookmarks in my wallet. Andrea Cooper Murphy Toronto Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@
CBC
7 hours ago
- CBC
Scrapping youth transit pass 'shameful,' says group behind email campaign
Social Sharing Nearly 800 people have sent emails calling on OC Transpo to rescind a decision to scrap the youth monthly transit pass, according to a progressive advocacy group that's launched a campaign against the decision. In a memo late last month, the city announced that — as of Sept. 1 — the pass would be eliminated, part of cost-cutting measures to reduce the $120-million deficit in the 2025 budget. It currently costs $104 a month, compared to $135 for an adult pass. Horizon Ottawa launched its campaign on Thursday, saying the decision would result in Ottawa's youth paying some of the highest fares in the country and would diverge from policies of other big Canadian cities where youth discounts are common. "It's shameful that now youth are having to pay as much as an adult," Horizon Ottawa board member Sam Hersh told Radio-Canada. "The fact that close to 800 people have already sent emails signifies that people aren't just frustrated with this particular policy, but they're frustrated in general with the transit system." The root cause of the deficit, Hersh said, is "decades of cuts" to transit funding. "We need to start investing in our transit system, not cutting it." In a statement to Radio-Canada, the city said provincially funded school boards purchase about 92 per cent of all monthly youth passes, an average of 19,100 a month. Those students would continue receiving a monthly pass from their school at no cost, the city said. About 1,700 customers who purchased the youth pass themselves would no longer be able to do so, the statement said. But student transit passes purchased by school boards aren't available in the summer months or for students who live too close to their school, said Laura Shantz, a public transport advocate. "That would be the situation for my family," she told Radio-Canada. "We'll start to rethink whether my child needs a bus pass the entire school year or only the months where it's not pleasant to walk or bike or get to school in other ways." The additional $30 a month for an adult monthly pass is a lot for some families, she added. Pass likely won't be saved, says councillor "We acknowledge that this change may result in increased costs for some families who are ineligible to receive a student transit pass from their school," said David Jones, the team lead for transit media relations, in the city's statement. Other options remain available, he said, including the EquiPass, a discounted monthly transit pass and single-ride fare option for low income families. Horizon Ottawa's campaign is unlikely to cause the city to reverse its decision, according to Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr. "I haven't had the chance to speak to my colleagues or to OC Transport staff to see if there's any opportunity to change it before September, I would suspect no," said Carr, who sits on the transit committee. "But it is something that I think many people around the council table want to make sure that we look after in our upcoming discussions of budget 2026."
