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Polievre calls corporate lobbyists useless but he still meets them
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# Mushroom growers, Shopify and real estate: Poilievre says lobbyists
are 'useless,' but here's who he meets with anyway
Poilievre denounced the lobbying culture in corporate Canada in a
speech in March
Published May 07, 2024 • Last updated May 07, 2024 • 4 minute read
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in Vancouver on Friday, Oct. 13,
2023. Photo by ETHAN CAIRNS /THE CANADIAN PRESS
## Article content
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's view of lobbyists as
"useless and overpaid" hasn't stopped him from meeting with them,
according to records in Canada's lobbyist registry.
Poilievre denounced the lobbying culture in corporate Canada in a
speech in March and again in an opinion piece published in the
National Post last week. He said any corporation looking to make
legislative change should convince Canadians of the merit of the idea
rather than reaching out directly to MPs and senators.
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Article content
"If you do have a policy proposal, don't tell me about it. Convince
Canadians that it's good for them. Communicate your policy's benefits
directly to workers, consumers and retirees. When they start telling
me about your ideas on the doorstep in Windsor, St. John's, Trois-
Rivières, and Port Alberni, then I'll think about enacting it," he
said.
A search of the federal lobbyist registry shows Poilievre has met with
lobbyists 26 times in the past 12 months, which is slightly less than
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who met with 39 registered lobbyists in the
previous 12 months. Some of Poilievre's meetings included Conservative
MPs, while others were one-on-one chats.
The registry shows Poilievre's meetings have been with a variety of
groups including companies advancing resource projects, like mining
giant Rio Tinto and Woodfibre Management, a firm proposing an LNG
export facility near Squamish, B.C., Imperial Oil and Cenovus.
If the Conservative leader wants to grow the economy he needs to be
willing to work with business, said Heather Exner-Pirot, a senior
fellow and the director of natural resources, energy and environment
at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
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"You're not going to have powerful paycheques if there's no one to pay
those paycheques," she said. "I feel like maybe (attacking lobbyists)
is good politics here leading into the election, but I don't think it
will lead to better economic policy."
Poilievre has met with some of the country's major business figures
including Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and
MasterCard Canada president Sasha Krstic. He has met with agriculture
groups like the Grain Growers of Canada, the Canadian Canola Growers
Association and the Mushroom Growers of Canada.
Poilievre championed a mushroom farmer in his own riding last fall who
was facing rising carbon taxes from the use of natural gas to keep
growing rooms warm. The Mushroom Growers Association has advocated for
a Conservative private member's bill that would exempt mushroom
farmers from the carbon tax.
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Poilievre has met with some business groups like the Chamber of Marine
Commerce, the Canadian Real Estate Association, the Canadian Propane
Association and the Canadian Health Food Association.
The health food industry group opposes new labelling and testing rules
for supplements and other products that the group argues are
unnecessary and will only drive up prices. They have encouraged
consumers to send tens of thousands of letters and emails to MPs about
the issue. The Conservatives have pledged to scrap these changes and a
Conservative MP has introduced a private member's bill that would
exempt them from the new rules.
Poilievre has also met with many Indigenous groups including several
local tribal councils and the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations
Association.
With exemptions for foreign diplomats, as well as provincial and
municipal politicians, the registry requires anyone who sets up a
meeting with a public office holder to register that meeting on a
publicly searchable database. Public office holders include MPs and
senators, but also political staff and bureaucrats.
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In his op-ed, Poilievre said lobbyists, especially large business
associations like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Business
Council of Alberta and the Canadian Federation of Business, have not
pushed back strongly enough against Liberal policies and have been
ineffective voices for their members.
"The Chamber of Commerce, Business Council, and Canadian Federation of
Independent Business hold pointless luncheons and meetings and write
op-eds or record interviews that almost no one sees," he wrote. "As
leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, I refuse to meet the
aforementioned groups. They tell me what I already know."
There are no recorded meetings with Poilievre and those groups in the
last 12 months, but his staff have met with all three. They have also
met with Beer Canada, an industry group Poilievre criticized for
thanking the Liberals when they raised excise taxes on beer by less
than previously expected.
Poilievre spokesperson Sebastian Skamski didn't indicate how Mr.
Poilievre picks which lobbyists he or his staff do meet with, but what
he says in those meetings is consistent.
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"Mr. Poilievre's message in his recent op-ed is the same message that
he would deliver to any stakeholder in any setting," Skamski said in
an email.
Exner-Pirot said Poilievre's message is another troubling sign from
Canada's politicians that they see businesses as the enemy.
"I am very chagrined with how this country's political class, now
across all parties, treats industry and corporations as if they're
villains," he said. "Maybe you accept it from the NDP, but now to see
a Conservative opposition party basically villainizing industry, it's
problematic for me."
She said Poilievre's attack on specific groups seems to be more about
politics.
"What seems clear to me is that who he is identifying or calling out
are probably those that have been coziest with the Liberals and that's
what he's rejecting."
National Post
rtumilty@postmedia.com
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