At a news conference in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre ignored a CTV reporter’s question about his refusal to get a security clearance, instead dismissing her as “just a protester.”
The reporter had shouted the question out of turn, as she was not one of the four journalists who had been chosen by the campaign to pose a question that day.
The scene seemed to illustrate the ongoing challenges facing journalists covering the Conservative campaign, which has given the media limited access to the Conservative leader. But some political analysts question whether this strategy, that may have been useful when Justin Trudeau was his expected opponent, still provides Poilievre with a political advantage.
David Coletto, founder and CEO of Ottawa-based polling and market research firm Abacus Data, said a strategy to limit media access to Poilievre was a safe one, when he was so far ahead of Trudeau. He said the goal was to control as much as possible to just get to the finish line.
“That strategy doesn’t seem to be working because the entire landscape has changed,” Coletto said.
That change included the resignation of Trudeau, the election of Mark Carney as the Liberal leader and a new political environment formed by the economic threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariffs against Canada.
Poilievre, who had been up by at least 25 points, saw his lead vanish, with polls now suggesting he and the Conservatives are trailing the Liberals.
Still, media access to Poilievre remains tightly controlled. At Conservative events, journalists are kept at a distance, often behind barriers. Unlike with other party leaders, the media is limited to ask Poilievre four questions with no follow-ups, and party officials decide which reporters ask questions.
And staffers have tried to block access to journalists trying to speak to supporters and even local candidates.
While the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois all have reporters travelling with their campaigns, at their employers’ expense, the Conservatives decided against it.
Julie Simmons, an associate professor of political science at the University of Guelph, said Poilievre sees the mainstream media outlets as having a bias against him.
“And so as a result, he is concerned or interested in thinking about alternative ways to reach voters,” she said. “And this is evident in his extensive collection of YouTube videos.”
Poilievre calls journalist ‘a protester’ while they try to ask him a question
Don Guy, a veteran Liberal political campaign strategist, former campaign director and chief of staff to former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, echoed that the Conservatives likely see “earned media” (non-paid media such as news coverage) as the the least of their priorities.
Instead, the party has spent millions of dollars in building their own social media presence to provide unfiltered access to the audience they want to reach, he said.
“So they’re not giving a lot of time for questions … because it doesn’t represent anything additive for them in terms of amplifying their message or reaching new voters,” Guy said.
“You could argue that it actually represents more risk than reward for them because the leader may stumble in answering a question. And why no follow-up? Because if [he does] make a misstep in answering a question, then there’s no opportunity for that reporter to ask a supplementary or follow- up question poking at that.”
But Guy said that strategy of limiting media access does come with risks, particularly in this campaign with two rookie leaders, as opposed to one well-known prime minister.
In this election, Canadians are looking for more information about the candidates, he said.
“I think the risk for the Conservatives, and it would seem to be showing up in the polls, is that they are throttling that pipeline of that kind of information,” he said.
Coletto said this limited media access strategy may also be hurting Conservatives with baby boomers, a key demographic.
“Baby boomers are the most likely to be tuning in to broadcast news, reading newspapers, listening to the radio,” he said. “If [Poilievre’s] not engaging with the media and trying to speak to that audience, he’s going to have a hard time convincing them that he’s their best choice in this election.”
Allan Thompson, director of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication, and a former Parliament Hill reporter for the Toronto Star, said Poilievre can handle himself quite well in front of journalists.
“I don’t think this is a good strategy for him,” said Thompson, who was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada during the 2015 and 2019 federal elections.
“He’s quick on his feet. He’s a good communicator,” he said. “I think they have made a strategic mistake, going to the nth degree of media control and trying to limit the message, which is why it’s important for journalists to document this.”
He said Poilievre has contrived a type of media dynamic with so many controls that it’s become part of the narrative of the campaign.
“Everyone wants to manage their message and tries to spin and persuade and avoid the topics that they don’t want to address,” Thompson said.
“We are a functioning democracy. And there’s limits, I think, to how much a person who aspires to be a prime minister should curtail media.”
