Why Poilievre is distancing himself from corporate Canada

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OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s recent criticism of “useless” corporate lobbyists is rooted in his party’s skepticism of the modern business community and also meant to demonstrate that he is not “beholden” to anyone as he prepares to form government, say political observers.

In fact, those observers say that Poilievre’s strategy involves deliberately ditching the traditional business luncheon circuits in Ottawa, Toronto or Montreal to speak directly to voters.

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Traditionally, the Conservative Party of Canada, seen as the party closest to business groups, would meet with big banks and various chambers of commerce to get their message through to Canadians, said Dimitri Soudas, who was the director of communications to former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Not anymore. Poilievre has been bypassing those events and instead speaking directly to blue-collar workers and union locals to get his message through. “We never did that (before),” said Soudas.

It’s part of a bigger strategy to broaden the Conservatives’ appeal to working-class voters. “They voted against the merger of Rogers and Shaw. They’re voting against mergers of banks. They voted for anti-scab legislation … I tend to imagine that we would have never voted for such legislation,” said Soudas.

On Friday, Poilievre told a full room of CEOs and lobbyists at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade that he would be doing them no favours if he is elected prime minister and said that they would have to convince not just him, but Canadians, if they want to see policy changes implemented.

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He also slammed “utterly useless” corporate lobbyists in Ottawa, which he claimed are more interested in dining with cabinet ministers than working for people on the ground, and told corporate leaders to “stop sucking up” to the Liberal government, which he said is “doing the damage to our country.”

It was not the first time that Poilievre has had strong words for corporate Canada. Last December, he told a C.D. Howe Institute audience in Toronto that state capitalism gets ahead by having the best lobbyist and by pleasing politicians, whereas free enterprise gets ahead by having the best product for consumers.

Cole Hogan, digital strategist and principal at Earnscliffe Strategies, said Friday’s speech was the “strongest message” to the business sector that he has seen in a long time from a politician.

“He’s really asking them to sharpen their pencils. Like, ‘hey, you’re going to have to come with your homework done. And just you can’t make assumptions of the government and expect you’re going to just get funding for whatever ask.’ I think that’s sort of the main message that he is driving at.”

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“There can be no equivalent of, ‘well, this is the way we’ve always done business.’ I think that everyone’s going to have to come with fresh arguments as to why their project deserves funding.”

Rudy Husny, a former Hill staffer turned political analyst, said Poilievre is showing that he is “not beholden to any organization” with his comments.

“His position is based on what is best for workers or for the country and not by special interests because he’s in full control when it comes to his leadership in the Conservative Party of Canada … so, it’s not like he’s been seen as close to one interest (group) or another. That’s why he can send that message.”

Liberals have been pointing out that Jenni Byrne, one of Poilievre’s closest aides, owns Jenni Byrne + Associates, which registered six employees as registered lobbyists for the Ontario government on behalf of grocery giant Loblaws just in the past year. Byrne is not herself a consultant for Loblaws.

“You can still criticize lobbyists while taking genuine political advice,” said Hogan. “I don’t know that Jenni being a lobbyist renders her political strategy moot.”

Poilievre’s criticism of corporate interests recently evolved into a real-life example, as one of his top MPs took aim at the wine and beer industries for welcoming the government’s decision to extend the cap on the annual alcohol excise tax increase at two per cent for an additional two years, until 2026.

“This is exactly what Pierre Poilievre was talking about. These useless lobby groups are gushing over the fact that Trudeau is STILL raising their taxes; just not quite as much as he originally threatened,” Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer wrote on X, which Poilievre subsequently retweeted.

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On Monday, Scheer doubled down on his comments by calling on breweries to cancel their membership with Beer Canada — which he called “useless Liberal lobbyists.” That too was retweeted by Poilievre.

Beer Canada president CJ Hélie called the cap on the annual alcohol excise tax increase a “compromise,” but also highlighted the two-year 50 per cent reduction of the excise duty rate on the first 15,000 hectolitres of beer brewed in Canada, which would help most breweries in the country.

“They’re certainly positive steps. And I would also say that it would not (have happened) without the support of the Conservative party and all they did to highlight this issue … So, I think they should take a huge amount of credit for the steps that were announced,” said Hélie.

Wine Growers Canada said that any tax increase should be debated in Parliament, but its members are thankful for the “crucial tax relief” that was announced over the weekend.

“‘Thank you’ is an underused phrase in government circles, it is our practice to thank those whose efforts are helpful for our members regardless of political affiliation,” Dan Paszkowski, President and CEO of Wine Growers Canada, said in an email.

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Husny, who was acting as director of stakeholders when Scheer was leader of the party, said Scheer has been pounding the same message to corporate Canada for years: don’t just complain about policy changes behind closed doors and expect the Conservatives to do all the heavy lifting for you.

Hélie said Scheer’s criticism does not apply to Beer Canada or the beer industry in general.

“For the last two years, we have been the only industry I know of who has taken a very public anti-tax campaign … We’ve walked the walk. We have spent a lot of money, time and resources to raise this issue in a very public forum … So, I’m 100 per cent aligned with Mr. Poilievre’s suggestions.”

Even though Poilievre is pledging to give corporate Canada no favours, those promises can sometimes clash with the realities of governing, as Harper found out when he had to pledge billions to bail out Chrysler and General Motors amid the 2009 global recession.

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At the time, Harper explained that, even though it defied his principles to help wealthy corporations, the government had no choice to act because the country risked losing its auto sector if it didn’t align with Washington’s decision to use public money to restructure the entire industry.

“There was a complete and utter meltdown of the financial markets, the housing crisis, the housing bubble. I mean, it was the mother of all recessions,” said Soudas. “So, did it go against Conservative policy to run a deficit in 2008-2009? Yes, of course it did. But the times … were not predictable.”

National Post

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