Few journalists, Few questions. An election campaign just the way Poilievre likes it

If the predictions are correct, Prime Minister Mark Carney will call an election this weekend, sending voters to the polls as early as April 28. Media outlets are already in high gear, making coverage plans and budgeting for the significant related costs. This time, the price tag will be lower; the Conservatives announced this week that media are not welcome on Pierre Poilievre’s campaign voyage.

It’s the first time in recent memory that one of Canada’s major parties has banned journalists from travelling with the leader on the campaign bus and flights. And why?

The initial reason given by Conservative campaign director Jenni Byrne was because travel costs have escalated and digital and remote access to public events have improved so much that ample coverage is available that way. Let’s dig into this a bit.

Although it may be true that the federal parties partially subsidize campaign travel costs for the media, having been on the budgeting side of the equation, I can tell you the outlets that spring to send reporters on the leaders’ buses and planes pay plenty. So much so, that many outlets have now opted out. They are forced to cover the campaign remotely, where their questions can be easily ignored, and rely on wire services for live campaign coverage. 

It would be interesting to know exactly how much opening the doors to media who can afford it would cost the party. Likely, not much.

And given Poilievre’s massive fundraising success, you have to question why they couldn’t spend just a little bit of their war chest to provide voters with insight that comes from access for journalists and their pesky questions. 

When pressed, Poilievre qualified Byrne’s excuse, saying he would prefer to give opportunities for local media outlets to ask questions during the campaign. Sounds good. But the reality is the number of local media outlets has shrunk so precipitously that in some places, Poilievre might not face reporters at all. A new study by the Centre for Canadian Policy Alternatives has found 2.5 million Canadians are now without a local news outlet. 

And being able to make election pronouncements without having to field questions would suit Poilievre just fine. There’s a bigger truth here. Poilievre has a decidedly testy, if not combative, relationship with journalists. He is quick to anger when faced with questions he doesn’t like, and he has used his skill as a bare-knuckled Parliamentary debater to belittle reporters who annoy him. As my colleague Max Fawcett wrote after the cringey apple incident, Poilievre cultivates petulance. 

He holds press conferences where questions are kept to a minimum and only occasionally grants one-on-one interviews with friendly right-wing commentators like Jordan Peterson and former National Post columnist Sabrina Maddeaux, who became so enamoured with the Tory agenda she tried to run for the party in the upcoming election.

This relationship with the press extends to policy priorities, too. One of his primary campaign promises is to defund the CBC. He has also mused about extending federal journalism funding to far-right outlets like Rebel Media, which was denied in the past for failing to provide enough original content.

Now, all politicians have their testy moments. Newly-minted Prime Minister Mark Carney bristled at questions over his financial assets, accusing the media of assuming “ill will” on his part. There will no doubt be more moments like this when the honeymoon period that has him rising in the polls starts to wane. We are all human.

But there seems to be a fundamental difference in personality type between the leaders. Poilievre boasts about his aggressive nature, pitching it as a selling point to deal with the current trade war started by U.S. President Donald Trump, a politician who also loathes mainstream media and is as nasty as they come. 

Carney seems determined to rise above the muck. He seems, from the outside, a decent person, confident in his ability to take on adversaries by demanding respect and extending that same courtesy to others. No surprise then, that his campaign is open to the media.

Canadians will soon be asked to choose which political party and leader they think is best suited to guide the country through these troubled times. Factual, reliable information will be crucial for voters, business leaders and local governments facing difficult decisions.

There are hugely troubling signs for press freedom south of the border where Trump has called journalists  “monsters,” and “horrible, horrible, dishonest people” and threatened to go after media he dislikes with the power of the government. Some of the nation’s most respected newspapers are beginning to self-censor, causing respected life-long journalists to resign in protest. 

One has to wonder what would play out here under a government run by Poilievre, who struggles to contain his contempt for the media. Booting journalists off the campaign bus seems like only the first step.