Latest news with #Teneycke
CTV News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Teneycke: 'Conservatives made strategic error pushing too hard to oust Trudeau before campaign'
Teneycke: 'Conservatives made strategic error pushing too hard to oust Trudeau before campaign' The strategists' panel breaks down the Liberal win, Conservative missteps, Carney's turnaround, and the NDP's underwhelming performance in the election.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Conservative strategist says Poilievre needs to urgently pivot or he will lose
One of the country's top Conservative strategists who just helped Ontario Premier Doug Ford win a sizable majority government says Pierre Poilievre urgently needs to make a pivot and start talking more about the issue voters care about most — the U.S. threat — or he risks losing the federal election. In an interview with CBC News, Kory Teneycke said only weeks ago Poilievre was on track to win a massive majority government, and now every major pollster in the country says it's the Liberals who are set to win big. If an election were held today, the Conservatives would lose, Teneycke said. He said it's because of U.S. President Donald Trump — and the Conservative Party's inadequate messaging around what it would do to try and stop his tariffs and annexationist threats. But it's not just that, Teneycke said, there's also a stylistic issue — the party's leader is just too "Trump-y" and he's got to make a change fast. Teneycke said Poilievre acts and sounds too much like the president, with his pet names for his political opponents ("Carbon tax Carney") and catchy sloganeering ("big beautiful bring it home tax cut"), and it's off-putting to voters the party needs to win. "It all sounds too Trump-y for a lot of voters," Teneycke said. Teneycke, who held senior roles under former prime minister Stephen Harper including director of communications before becoming a strategist at firm Rubicon, said Poilievre is "negative all the time" and it's "hard to be liked by the public" when you're like that. "There needs to be more of an emphasis on a positive message," he said. "And I think you have to be a little more direct and more consistent in terms of the message around the U.S." Asked about his sinking poll numbers Thursday, Poilievre said: "We'll wait for Canadians to make the choice on election day.""After the lost Liberal decade of rising costs and crime and the economy being down under America's thumb, do the Liberals deserve a fourth term in power? Or is it time to put Canada first for a change with a new Conservative government that will axe taxes, build homes, unleash resources and bring home the jobs?" Poilievre said. Teneycke said Poilievre and his team are also running this campaign as if the main opponent was still former prime minister Justin Trudeau and that the issues that were in focus last year — the cost of living, inflation and the housing crisis — are the ones that matter most when voters are clearly indicating it's Trump who is top of mind. "I'm not raising this critique out of animus for the Conservative Party," Teneycke said. "I'm bringing it up as somebody who spent his entire career trying to elect Conservatives and many of them at the federal level. But I think we're just on the wrong track. And I think we need to adjust, refocus the campaign on the one big issue and soften the tone." Internal Ontario Progressive Conservative polling obtained by CBC News paints a bleak picture for Team Poilievre in Canada's most populous province. Carney's Liberals are at 48 per cent provincewide and the Conservatives at 33 per cent. The poll, which surveyed 1,902 respondents, was conducted March 24-26. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of a similar size would have a margin of error of +/- 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The Toronto Star was first to report the results of the internal polling. In remarks to the Empire Club in Toronto Wednesday evening, Teneycke said the campaign's current trajectory is concerning. "I'll make the case tonight and hopefully this will permeate the Conservative Party war room somewhere — you've got to get on the f--king ballot question that is driving votes or you are going to lose," Teneycke said. Asked about those remarks Thursday, Poilievre said he's the one who can best defend Canada. "I'm the only one who will stand up to the U.S. president. The president wants the Liberals back in," he said. Poilievre was critical of Trump in the wake of his latest tariff broadside. The Conservative leader said Trump is unfairly "attacking his closest neighbour and America's best friend." "My message to President Trump is knock it off. Stop attacking America's friends," he said.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Top Conservative strategist says Poilievre needs to urgently pivot or he will lose
Social Sharing One of the country's top Conservative strategists who just helped Ontario Premier Doug Ford win a sizable majority government says Pierre Poilievre urgently needs to make a pivot and start talking more about the issue voters care about most — the U.S. threat — or he risks losing the federal election. In an interview with CBC News, Kory Teneycke said only weeks ago Poilievre was on track to win a massive majority government, and now every major pollster in the country says it's the Liberals who are set to win big. If an election were held today, the Conservatives would lose, Teneycke said. He said it's because of U.S. President Donald Trump — and the Conservative Party's inadequate messaging around what it would do to try and stop his tariffs and annexationist threats. But it's not just that, Teneycke said, there's also a stylistic issue — the party's leader is just too "Trump-y" and he's got to make a change fast. Teneycke said Poilievre acts and sounds too much like the president, with his pet names for his political opponents ("Carbon tax Carney") and catchy sloganeering ("big beautiful bring it home tax cut"), and it's off-putting to voters the party needs to win. "It all sounds too Trump-y for a lot of voters," Teneycke said. Teneycke, who held senior roles under former prime minister Stephen Harper including director of communications before becoming a strategist at firm Rubicon, said Poilievre is "negative all the time" and it's "hard to be liked by the public" when you're like that. "There needs to be more of an emphasis on a positive message," he said. "And I think you have to be a little more direct and more consistent in terms of the message around the U.S." Asked about his sinking poll numbers Thursday, Poilievre said: "We'll wait for Canadians to make the choice on election day." WATCH | Poilievre asked about declining poll numbers: Poilievre says it's election day result that matters, not polling 3 hours ago Duration 1:51 Responding to a question about how some public opinion polls show the Conservatives losing their lead over the Liberals, leader Pierre Poilievre said Canadians will make their decision on voting day. "After the lost Liberal decade of rising costs and crime and the economy being down under America's thumb, do the Liberals deserve a fourth term in power? Or is it time to put Canada first for a change with a new Conservative government that will axe taxes, build homes, unleash resources and bring home the jobs?" Poilievre said. Teneycke said Poilievre and his team are also running this campaign as if the main opponent was still former prime minister Justin Trudeau and that the issues that were in focus last year — the cost of living, inflation and the housing crisis — are the ones that matter most when voters are clearly indicating it's Trump who is top of mind. "I'm not raising this critique out of animus for the Conservative Party," Teneycke said. "I'm bringing it up as somebody who spent his entire career trying to elect Conservatives and many of them at the federal level. But I think we're just on the wrong track. And I think we need to adjust, refocus the campaign on the one big issue and soften the tone." Internal Ontario Progressive Conservative polling obtained by CBC News paints a bleak picture for Team Poilievre in Canada's most populous province. Carney's Liberals are at 48 per cent provincewide and the Conservatives at 33 per cent. The poll, which surveyed 1,902 respondents, was conducted March 24-26 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.2 per cent. In remarks to the Empire Club in Toronto Wednesday evening, Teneycke said the campaign's current trajectory is concerning. "I'll make the case tonight and hopefully this will permeate the Conservative Party war room somewhere — you've got to get on the f--king ballot question that is driving votes or you are going to lose," Teneycke said. Asked about those remarks Thursday, Poilievre said he's the one who can best defend Canada. "I'm the only one who will stand up to the U.S. president. The president wants the Liberals back in," he said.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Conservative strategist says Poilievre needs to urgently pivot or he will lose
One of the country's top Conservative strategists who just helped Ontario Premier Doug Ford win a sizable majority government says Pierre Poilievre urgently needs to make a pivot and start talking more about the issue voters care about most — the U.S. threat — or he risks losing the federal election. In an interview with CBC News, Kory Teneycke said only weeks ago Poilievre was on track to win a massive majority government, and now every major pollster in the country says it's the Liberals who are set to win big. If an election were held today, the Conservatives would lose, Teneycke said. He said it's because of U.S. President Donald Trump — and the Conservative Party's inadequate messaging around what it would do to try and stop his tariffs and annexationist threats. But it's not just that, Teneycke said, there's also a stylistic issue — the party's leader is just too "Trump-y" and he's got to make a change fast. Teneycke said Poilievre acts and sounds too much like the president, with his pet names for his political opponents ("Carbon tax Carney") and catchy sloganeering ("big beautiful bring it home tax cut"), and it's off-putting to voters the party needs to win. "It all sounds too Trump-y for a lot of voters," Teneycke said. Teneycke, who held senior roles under former prime minister Stephen Harper including director of communications before becoming a strategist at firm Rubicon, said Poilievre is "negative all the time" and it's "hard to be liked by the public" when you're like that. "There needs to be more of an emphasis on a positive message," he said. "And I think you have to be a little more direct and more consistent in terms of the message around the U.S." Asked about his sinking poll numbers Thursday, Poilievre said: "We'll wait for Canadians to make the choice on election day.""After the lost Liberal decade of rising costs and crime and the economy being down under America's thumb, do the Liberals deserve a fourth term in power? Or is it time to put Canada first for a change with a new Conservative government that will axe taxes, build homes, unleash resources and bring home the jobs?" Poilievre said. Teneycke said Poilievre and his team are also running this campaign as if the main opponent was still former prime minister Justin Trudeau and that the issues that were in focus last year — the cost of living, inflation and the housing crisis — are the ones that matter most when voters are clearly indicating it's Trump who is top of mind. "I'm not raising this critique out of animus for the Conservative Party," Teneycke said. "I'm bringing it up as somebody who spent his entire career trying to elect Conservatives and many of them at the federal level. But I think we're just on the wrong track. And I think we need to adjust, refocus the campaign on the one big issue and soften the tone." Internal Ontario Progressive Conservative polling obtained by CBC News paints a bleak picture for Team Poilievre in Canada's most populous province. Carney's Liberals are at 48 per cent provincewide and the Conservatives at 33 per cent. The poll, which surveyed 1,902 respondents, was conducted March 24-26 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.2 per cent. In remarks to the Empire Club in Toronto Wednesday evening, Teneycke said the campaign's current trajectory is concerning. "I'll make the case tonight and hopefully this will permeate the Conservative Party war room somewhere — you've got to get on the f--king ballot question that is driving votes or you are going to lose," Teneycke said. Asked about those remarks Thursday, Poilievre said he's the one who can best defend Canada. "I'm the only one who will stand up to the U.S. president. The president wants the Liberals back in," he said.
CBC
26-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
What the federal parties can learn from Doug Ford's election win
After a provincial election campaign fought in the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs and annexation, federal parties could draw some lessons from the way Doug Ford and his Ontario PC Party romped to victory. Ford pitched himself as the best leader to protect the province against those threats and even made "Protect Ontario" his campaign slogan. His campaign focused almost exclusively on that one issue and he was rewarded with a third straight majority government, something no leader has accomplished in Ontario since 1959. It's a formula that strategists of all political stripes say the federal leaders should emulate if they hope to win the general election on April 28. Kory Teneycke, who managed all three of Ford's provincial campaigns and advised Stephen Harper during his time as prime minister, says the federal parties must acknowledge what matters to voters right now. "The number one issue driving voter intent in the Ontario provincial campaign was clearly Trump and tariffs," said Teneycke in an interview. "There's a lot of national polling data that would indicate that the same is true now in the federal election campaign, only even more so." WATCH | What Doug Ford's election win can teach the federal leaders: It's almost impossible to win federally in Canada without winning Ontario. Over the past 50 years, the party that took the most seats in Ontario won 14 of the last 15 elections. The only exception: when Stephen Harper's Conservatives won their first minority, in 2006. 'The only issue in this election' It's rare to have a federal election follow so closely on the heels of an Ontario election; rarer still to have the same political theme resonate so profoundly in both contests. "The only issue in this election is protecting Canada and Trump and tariffs," said Marion Nader, co-founder of consulting firm Nexus Strategy Group and a veteran adviser to New Democrat politicians in Ontario and Alberta. "If any party tries to make the ballot question anything other than Trump, then they're going to get drowned out and they're going to be irrelevant," Nader said in an interview. Nader says a key to the election will be how each federal leader frames their message on the Trump and tariffs issue. "I think what what Canadians want is someone who's going to unify, talk about solutions, be the adult in the room," she said. Teneycke believes the Trump presidency and his repeated threat of tariffs poses a particular challenge for Poilievre, but not an insurmountable one. Poilievre's Conservative team did "an incredible job" in laying the groundwork over the past two-plus years to fight an election against Justin Trudeau on the carbon tax, affordability and housing, says Teneycke. Many Ontario voters strongly against Trump "The situation has changed," he said. "You've got to fight the campaign that's ahead of you, not the one that you wanted to fight necessarily." Teneycke says the Ontario PC campaign's research found large numbers of voters vehemently opposed to Trump and everything about him. He says the only time he saw the party's polling numbers dip during the campaign was after a camera caught Ford saying he was "100 per cent" happy that Trump had won the presidential election last November. The lesson for Poilievre, according to Teneycke: avoid sounding anything like Trump, whether in words or tone. "Talking about your big, beautiful, bring-it-home tax cut, talking about sneaky Carney, talking about fake news, these are all lines pulled from the lexicon of of Trump," he said. "Probably the worst of them is saying Canada First, which sounds, I think to a lot of voters, like America First." WATCH | Compare the income tax cut promises from the Liberals and Conservatives: How do Carney and Poilievre's income tax cuts compare? | About That 12 hours ago Duration 8:30 The federal election campaign is officially underway and among the first promises of the leading parties is an income tax cut. Andrew Chang breaks down the math behind the two plans to explain how much you would save, and why experts are skeptical about how either would pay for it. CBC News asked the Conservative Party to respond to Teneycke's comments. "Pierre Poilievre has been talking about his plan to put Canada First and make Canada stronger in order to stand up to Trump, and will continue to do so," said a party spokesperson in an email. While the CBC Poll Tracker suggests the Conservative Party has lost more than seven percentage points nationally since Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, Teneycke thinks it's not impossible for Poilievre to win back those voters. 'Hard to change a ballot question' Ashley Csanady, who worked as an adviser on the Ontario Liberal campaign, saw firsthand how difficult it is to fight an election on any issue other than tariffs at this time in Canada. "It's pretty hard to change a ballot question when you have something that's as big and as looming as the shadow of Donald Trump and our largest trading relationship," said Csanady, a vice-president at McMillan Vantage, a public affairs firm. In the past Ontario election, Bonnie Crombie's Liberals campaigned largely on fixing the health care system, and although they attracted nearly 30 per cent of the vote provincewide, that only translated into 14 of a total 124 seats. "The overall take away is that when voters are are looking at Trump and tariffs and they're scared about what's going on, they're voting based on who they think is the best option to take on that threat," Csanady said. In the federal election, Csanady believes this gives the advantage to Liberal Leader Mark Carney. "The fact that he sort of presents as this kind of boring dad, technocrat, smart guy economist is actually a superpower right now, she said. "I think with all the bombast coming out of the States, that calm presentation is the sort of thing that Canadians are looking for." Nader, the NDP strategist, says a key lesson for the federal party from the Ontario election is the value of targeting key ridings with extra campaign support. The Ontario New Democrats won 27 seats — nearly double the Liberal total — with less than 19 per cent of the vote share province-wide. She also says NDP leader Jagmeet Singh can win over voters by pitching his campaign message in a way that speaks to people's concerns. "It is about Trump and who's going to be best to stand up to Trump, but reframe it," said Nader. "Who is going to be prioritized in that battle? Who's going to stand up for families and workers?" There's a long-held notion in politics that incumbency is an advantage when contesting an election in times of crisis. The Progressive Conservative victory in Ontario — in which only two of the party's incumbents seeking re-election lost their seats — would appear to bolster that notion. The federal Liberals, who took 78 of Ontario's 121 seats in the last federal election, will be hoping that pattern from the provincial election in late February repeats itself come voting day in late April.
