Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, right, and his wife Anaida Poilievre visit Berto's Restaurant in Mississauga, Ont., on March 30.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre ducked a question Monday about turmoil in his election campaign as public-opinion polls show the Liberals now ahead of the Conservatives in key battlegrounds.
As the Globe and Mail reported Saturday, Mr. Poilievre is facing mounting discontent over campaign manager Jenni Byrne’s handling of strategy and operations, multiple sources say, citing what they call her unwillingness to pivot from attacks on the Liberal government record to a laser focus on the trade war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Mr. Poilievre, campaigning in Saint John, N.B., Monday, was asked about the rising frustration in his campaign, whether he would make changes to campaign leadership and what his plan was to turn things around.
He ignored the question in his response, which instead offered a reprise of his main campaign themes and slogans on matters such as soaring housing costs, rising food prices, drug overdoses and restrictions on energy development. “Some people have said that I should stop talking about the doubling housing costs that have denied an entire generation the chance to own a home,” Mr. Poilievre said. “My purpose in politics is to restore Canada’s promise so that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. It’s hard work that gets you a great life and a beautiful, affordable home on a safe street, protected by brave troops under a proud flag.”
Mr. Poilievre did not respond to a second question on his campaign trouble that was shouted by a reporter at the Saint John press conference.
In a story published Mar. 28, The Globe and Mail spoke to 17 Conservatives, who are close to the campaign, and they describe a dysfunctional organization with tensions rising as public-opinion polls show the Liberals now ahead of the Poilievre-led party.
They say Ms. Byrne has belittled campaign workers; given top staff positions to people who work for her consulting company; and discounted advice from party stalwarts, including onetime cabinet ministers, premiers and top advisers to former prime minister Stephen Harper.
Both Mr. Poilievre and Ms. Byrne rejected appeals from veteran party insiders – beginning in January – to switch from talking about consumer carbon pricing and cost-of-living issues to the threat posed to the Canadian economy from Mr. Trump and his America First agenda, the sources said.
The party insiders told the leader and his key lieutenant, Ms. Byrne, that the campaign has to be more than slogans and large rallies of party faithful, and instead be devoted to how a Conservative government could defend the economy from the U.S. President, the sources said.
With reports from Robert Fife and Stephanie Levitz in Ottawa.