Top Conservative strategist says Poilievre needs to urgently pivot or he will lose
Conservative leader is acting too 'Trump-y' and needs to make a change, says strategist
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.
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