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Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chris Selley: Poilievre's campaign message is still strong. He's right to stick with it
People have notes for Pierre Poilievre and his Conservative election campaign. So many notes. None say anything like 'stay the course, big fella!' 'You've got to get on the f-cking ballot question or you are going to lose,' Kory Teneycke, the Ontario conservative strategist bluntly said at an Empire Club event last week. (Teneycke is a veteran of the old Reform Party politics, like Poilievre's campaign manager Jenni Byrne.) 'Poilievre must wrap himself in the mantle of Captain Canada; the leader who will embody and assert our sovereignty and our rise to greatness,' Peter White, former principal secretary to Brian Mulroney, wrote this week in an opinion piece. He 'must … pivot from gladiator to statesman' — not by 'surrendering his convictions' but by 'elevating them.' 'Criticize the Liberal Party not merely for its failings, but for its smallness of vision,' White advised. (Are only large visions acceptable? Many Canadians would settle for affordable housing and safer streets.) Unnamed Conservative sources described to CBC a shambolic campaign led by an overly micromanaging and easily distracted Byrne. That's the sort of grumbling you hear from a lot of campaigns that aren't going the way people had envisioned. But when Teneycke tells CBC Poilievre is being too 'Trump-y,' what with the rhyming slogans and nicknames, that carries a weight that it doesn't when a Liberal accuses him of the same. Poilievre could tone some of that stuff down, certainly. But in a broader sense he has dismissed calls for a revamp, defending his campaign's focus on issues such as crime, opioid abuse and the housing crisis. 'Some people have said that … we should just ignore all of those things. I disagree. My purpose in politics is to restore Canada's promise so that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything,' he told reporters in New Brunswick on Monday. 'The unjustified threats by President Trump further strengthen the argument in favour of the 'Canada First' agenda that I've been fighting for my whole life,' he added. This is easy for me to say, my life's work not hanging in the balance. But in the big picture, I think Poilievre is better off sticking to his guns. One of the virtues of his candidacy thus far has been authenticity — not the kind of that authenticity consultants and focus groups put together The ballot question, we are told, is Trump. OK. What about Trump? Poilievre has already been doing his damndest to blame the Liberals for leaving Canada 'vulnerable' to the president's menaces, and to cast himself as the right man to tag into the ring on April 28. Yet Ipsos's latest poll, released Sunday, found 40 per cent of respondents felt Mark Carney was best suited 'to stand up to President Trump,' versus 28 per cent who felt Poilievre was. Carney has established that lead without doing much of anything except being prime minister for a few days. It's difficult to imagine what Poilievre could do now to convince voters to back him as the best opposition to Trump, especially since his proposed approach isn't all that different in substance than Carney's. If Poilievre wants to talk about big visions and Trump-proofing our economy, he can talk about his proposal for a national energy corridor, which would mean far quicker approvals for railways and energy infrastructure like pipelines. I'm sure he will, and he should. That Ipsos poll offers Poilievre a warning about changing lanes too noticeably, too. One metric on which Poilievre did worse than Carney included being 'someone who will say anything to get elected': 42 per cent said Poilievre would; 27 said Carney would. Perhaps people recall his long history as the ultimate say-anything partisan attack dog in the House of Commons. But it's somewhat unfair to Poilievre. One of the virtues of his candidacy thus far has been authenticity — not the kind of that authenticity consultants and focus groups put together for you, but the actual kind. When Poilievre says Canada is broken, and he's mad about it and blames the Liberals for it and wants to fix it, it has a ring of truth — and polls still suggest a lot of Canadians agree. If Poilievre was campaigning to attract certain kinds of Canadian voters, certain kinds of Canadian voters were also gravitating on their own to his basic pissed-off worldview. And rightly so! The opioid crisis is a national stain (and not just 'a challenge,' as Carney bewilderingly averred last month); concerns about public safety are not just the invention of tabloid-media and populist politicians; and housing is ludicrously unaffordable, and that is screwing up younger Canadians' lives, and the Liberals don't get it. (Many of them spent Monday evening swooning in fake shock that Poilievre referred to families' 'biological clocks' ticking as they try to get on the home-ownership ladder.) There's no guarantee at all that those Poilievre-intended voters who are now kicking Mark Carney's tires will find their ways back to the Blue Camp, of course. But Poilievre should want to be there with the same basic message if they do. He is, after all, at 38 per cent in the polls. Jean Chrétien was the last party leader to clock more than 40, and that was 25 years ago. National Post cselley@ Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what's really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.
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.
