As Pierre Poilievre positions himself as both a prime minister in waiting and a champion of “the working-class people,” he’s headlined roughly 50 fundraisers at private venues since becoming Conservative leader in 2022 — some of them in Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhoods and most exclusive clubs. A CBC News analysis shows Poilievre has headlined roughly 50 fundraisers at private venues since becoming Conservative leader in 2022.
But such fundraisers have led to media scrutiny and opposition criticism in the past — some of it coming from Poilievre. In March, Poilievre told the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade that, rather than speaking to business associations like it, he's appeared at "110 shop floors and five union local facilities." He said his experience with corporate lobbyists in Ottawa has "been that they have been utterly useless in advancing any common sense interests for the people on the ground."
"This is a guy who is not who he says he is," Green told CBC News. "This is somebody who is the 'elites' that he rails against." Active lobbyists representing the oil and natural gas company Cenovus, Pharmascience Inc. and the Pembina Pipeline Corporation are among those listed as having attended Poilievre fundraisers.," is listed as having attended a Poilievre event with his wife Jan and son Connor, who lobbies, in April 2023 in Banff, Alta., where he owns a ski resort.
"It tells you something about who has privileged access to a politician who might have the ability to affect change or advance policy initiatives," Stedman said. DeLorey, who is a lobbyist himself, said it "would be very poor form to try to bend the ear of a leader at a place like that." Riding high in the polls, the Conservative Party of Canada continues to out-fundraise other parties and broke its own record in the most recent quarter. The party raised more than $10.6 million from more than 51,000 donors between January and March.
"It's really a lot like a town hall meeting … except it's a closed event. You need to buy a ticket to get in. It usually consists of a mini speech, a stump speech by the featured speaker."