Polievre calls corporate lobbyists useless but he still meets them

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OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s view of lobbyists as “useless and overpaid” hasn’t stopped him from meeting with them, according to records in Canada’s lobbyist registry.

Poilievre denounced the lobbying culture in corporate Canada in a speech in March and again in an opinion piece published in the National Post last week. He said any corporation looking to make legislative change should convince Canadians of the merit of the idea rather than reaching out directly to MPs and senators.

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“If you do have a policy proposal, don’t tell me about it. Convince Canadians that it’s good for them. Communicate your policy’s benefits directly to workers, consumers and retirees. When they start telling me about your ideas on the doorstep in Windsor, St. John’s, Trois-Rivières, and Port Alberni, then I’ll think about enacting it,” he said.

A search of the federal lobbyist registry shows Poilievre has met with lobbyists 26 times in the past 12 months, which is slightly less than NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who met with 39 registered lobbyists in the previous 12 months. Some of Poilievre’s meetings included Conservative MPs, while others were one-on-one chats.

The registry shows Poilievre’s meetings have been with a variety of groups including companies advancing resource projects, like mining giant Rio Tinto and Woodfibre Management, a firm proposing an LNG export facility near Squamish, B.C., Imperial Oil and Cenovus.

If the Conservative leader wants to grow the economy he needs to be willing to work with business, said Heather Exner-Pirot, a senior fellow and the director of natural resources, energy and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

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“You’re not going to have powerful paycheques if there’s no one to pay those paycheques,” she said. “I feel like maybe (attacking lobbyists) is good politics here leading into the election, but I don’t think it will lead to better economic policy.”

Poilievre has met with some of the country’s major business figures including Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and MasterCard Canada president Sasha Krstic. He has met with agriculture groups like the Grain Growers of Canada, the Canadian Canola Growers Association and the Mushroom Growers of Canada.

Poilievre championed a mushroom farmer in his own riding last fall who was facing rising carbon taxes from the use of natural gas to keep growing rooms warm. The Mushroom Growers Association has advocated for a Conservative private member’s bill that would exempt mushroom farmers from the carbon tax.

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Poilievre has met with some business groups like the Chamber of Marine Commerce, the Canadian Real Estate Association, the Canadian Propane Association and the Canadian Health Food Association.

The health food industry group opposes new labelling and testing rules for supplements and other products that the group argues are unnecessary and will only drive up prices. They have encouraged consumers to send tens of thousands of letters and emails to MPs about the issue. The Conservatives have pledged to scrap these changes and a Conservative MP has introduced a private member’s bill that would exempt them from the new rules.

Poilievre has also met with many Indigenous groups including several local tribal councils and the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association.

With exemptions for foreign diplomats, as well as provincial and municipal politicians, the registry requires anyone who sets up a meeting with a public office holder to register that meeting on a publicly searchable database. Public office holders include MPs and senators, but also political staff and bureaucrats.

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In his op-ed, Poilievre said lobbyists, especially large business associations like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Alberta and the Canadian Federation of Business, have not pushed back strongly enough against Liberal policies and have been ineffective voices for their members.

“The Chamber of Commerce, Business Council, and Canadian Federation of Independent Business hold pointless luncheons and meetings and write op-eds or record interviews that almost no one sees,” he wrote. “As leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, I refuse to meet the aforementioned groups. They tell me what I already know.”

There are no recorded meetings with Poilievre and those groups in the last 12 months, but his staff have met with all three. They have also met with Beer Canada, an industry group Poilievre criticized for thanking the Liberals when they raised excise taxes on beer by less than previously expected.

Poilievre spokesperson Sebastian Skamski didn’t indicate how Mr. Poilievre picks which lobbyists he or his staff do meet with, but what he says in those meetings is consistent.

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“Mr. Poilievre’s message in his recent op-ed is the same message that he would deliver to any stakeholder in any setting,” Skamski said in an email.

Exner-Pirot said Poilievre’s message is another troubling sign from Canada’s politicians that they see businesses as the enemy.

“I am very chagrined with how this country’s political class, now across all parties, treats industry and corporations as if they’re villains,” he said. “Maybe you accept it from the NDP, but now to see a Conservative opposition party basically villainizing industry, it’s problematic for me.”

She said Poilievre’s attack on specific groups seems to be more about politics.

“What seems clear to me is that who he is identifying or calling out are probably those that have been coziest with the Liberals and that’s what he’s rejecting.”

National Post
rtumilty@postmedia.com

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