Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Oct. 16.PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press
A federal election could be two years away, but Pierre Poilievre is already in campaign mode, targeting ridings held by the Liberals and the NDP as the Conservatives set their sights on forming government.
Mr. Poilievre will hold two “Axe the Tax” rallies against carbon pricing in Atlantic Canada this week – in Windsor, N.S., on Thursday and St. John’s on Friday. He is also expected to focus on the high cost of living and housing, priority issues for the party this fall.
The Conservatives are going “full tilt,” said Fred Delorey, a partner at NorthStar Public Affairs who served as national campaign manager for the Conservative Party in 2021.
“They have the money; they’re awash in cash,” he said. “They have the momentum and they’re running a full campaign where Poilievre, his message, is resonating with Canadians. So he’s out pushing it hard.”
The Conservatives have been leading in a number of recent public-opinion polls. The party also raised nearly $8-million in donations from almost 47,000 contributors between April and June. By comparison, the Liberals raised about $3.2-million from more than 30,000 people in that period.
Scott Reid, who served as director of communications for former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, said the Conservatives are going into ridings they do not hold because they believe that voters in the next election will be interested in change, with the Liberals having been in power since 2015.
Robert Staley, chair of the Conservatives’ fundraising arm, shed some light on the party’s thinking about Mr. Poilievre’s tour during its policy convention last month.
“Our tour is not directed at bringing out the faithful to [the] leader’s rallies although we are delighted when the faithful attend and fill a room,” Mr. Staley said.
“With our leader’s tour, we are now trying to reach new voters with Pierre’s common-sense messages. That means doing more to advertise events and to reach people who otherwise wouldn’t have supported the party or haven’t in the past supported the party.”
Spokespeople for Mr. Poilievre and the party did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, Mr. Poilievre held a rally in the Vancouver Centre riding that Liberal Hedy Fry has held since 1993, and where the Conservatives came third in the 2021 election.
Ms. Fry, who is planning to run for an 11th term in the next election, was dismissive of Mr. Poilievre’s efforts.
“I don’t think people in a riding like mine and in many of the ridings in Vancouver, which are very progressive ridings, think the Conservatives have anything to offer them,” she said in an interview. Vancouver Centre, she said, “is very fallow ground for Conservatives of his ilk.”
A month before the Oct. 13 rally in Vancouver, Mr. Poilievre held a rally in the North Island-Powell River riding of New Democrat Rachel Blaney. About 1,500 people attended the gathering in the Vancouver Island riding.
In recent months, Mr. Poilievre has also held a series of rallies throughout northern Ontario, on PEI, and in B.C. This month, he has held “Bring it Home” rallies in Whitehorse, Oliver, B.C., and Vancouver.
Ahead of this week’s St. John’s event, Labour Minister and St. John’s South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O’Regan said in a statement that he stays “up nights worrying what Pierre Poilievre would do to Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy.”
Yaroslav Baran, who served as a communications adviser to former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, said rallies allow the leader to engage with voters outside the “closed bubble of Ottawa.” Mr. Poilievre tends to shake hands and pose for photos with any members of the audience who wants one, he said.
A federal election is not expected until the fall of 2025 because of a current working agreement between the governing Liberals and the New Democrats. However, that agreement could be at risk after the NDP, at its policy convention earlier this month, passed a resolution saying the party will withdraw its support if the government does not commit to “a universal, comprehensive and entirely public pharmacare program.”
Jamie Ellerton, a founding partner at public relations firm Conaptus and a former senior Conservative staffer, said strategic communications and marketing teaches that you “don’t get a buyer the first time you offer what you’re selling.” It is important to build brand equity, trust and a relationship, he said.
“As [Poilievre] delivers his message now, it’s building those relationships on a personal level but also building a relationship with Canadians writ large to rebuild the Conservative Party brand and frankly define Pierre’s leadership,” he said.
Mr. Reid said it is more challenging for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hold rallies for his own political interests because he bears the weight of voter disappointment and concerns inevitable with being in government.
But Parker Lund, a spokesperson for the Liberal Party, said volunteers in ridings across Canada are connecting with Canadians and that in the coming months and years the party “will continue our efforts to grow our movement by engaging more Canadians than ever before.”
Mr. Lund said a sign of that political strength could be seen in the party’s national convention this year when half the 4,000 delegates attending were at their first-ever such party event.