Poilievre to Speak with Ontario Premier Following Recent Tensions

(L-R) Ontario Premier Doug Ford; Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The Canadian Press/Chris Young; Adrian Wyld

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has confirmed that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s team contacted his office to set up a call for the two leaders following recent tensions between the federal party and the provincial Progressive Conservatives.

The chilly dynamic between the Ontario PCs and Poilievre’s Tories was on display throughout the federal election campaign as well as in the days after the Conservative Party’s loss to the Mark Carney Liberals and Poilevre’s failure to win his long-held seat in the Ontario riding of Carleton.

Ford briefly addressed the upcoming call between him and Poilievre during a May 7 media scrum.

“I think he’s asked everyone across the country for a meeting,” Ford told reporters. “I have no problem with that, and I’d be more than happy to talk to anyone and work with anyone. That’s just what we do.”

Unlike the federal and provincial NDP, the Tories and the Ontario PCs do not share a membership. The parties are independent entities that occasionally have overlapping ideologies as well as marked differences.

Frosty Relations

While Ford had said his caucus was too busy to get involved with the federal election and didn’t officially endorse any candidate, he later waded into the topic with comments that appeared to support Carney and criticize Poilievre.

Tensions first arose when Ford’s campaign manager Kory Teneycke accused the federal Conservative team of “campaign malpractice” due to the party’s slide in the polls, saying it needed to change strategy.

Ford defended Teneycke’s criticism, calling him “the best campaign manager in the country,” and said the federal Tories would be wise to listen to his advice.

“To be very frank, if Kory was running that campaign, I don’t think Mr. Poilievre would be in the position he’s in right now,” Ford said during a press conference in Toronto on April 14.

“Sometimes, the truth hurts,” he added.

While Ford criticized Poilievre’s campaign, he had also made comments praising Liberal Leader Mark Carney.

Ford has described Carney as “quite a good gentleman” and someone he “can work with,” saying he has an “extremely astute business mind” and “understands finances like no other person.”

On election night, after preliminary results showed the Liberals won a minority government, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani accused Ford of interfering with the Tories’ campaign.

Jivani, who was re-elected in the Bowmanville-Oshawa North riding, said the federal Tories stayed out of Ford’s recent election campaign, but he didn’t offer them the same courtesy.

“When it was our turn to run an election, he couldn’t stay out of our business, always getting his criticisms and all his opinions out, distracting our campaign, trying to make it about him, trying to position himself with some kind of political genius that we needed to be taking cues from,” Jivani said, describing Ford as a “hype man” for the Liberals.

He said that meanwhile, Ford was “glad-handing with Chrystia Freeland” and “having coffees and lattes with Mark Carney.”

When asked about accusations of being a Liberal supporter, Ford has shrugged them off, saying he is willing to work with parties of any political stripe. He also responded to questions about his relationship with the federal Tories at a press conference in Mississauga last week.

“Last time I checked, Pierre Poilievre never came out in our election,” said Ford. “As a matter of fact, him, or one of his lieutenants, told every one of his members, don’t you dare go out and help the PCs. Isn’t that ironic?”

He added that “all they have to do is make a phone call” to repair the breach.

The last time Ford and Poilievre spoke was in March, just before the federal election kicked off. Ford said it was the first time he had ever spoken to Poilievre, noting that they discussed priorities for the province such as taking advantage of Ontario’s supply of critical minerals.

Byelection Goal

The potential call between Ontario’s premier and Poilievre comes as he looks to regain a seat in the House of Commons. Poilievre said he is continuing on as the Conservative leader and has received support from prominent voices in the party. His leadership has yet to be openly challenged, nonetheless, caucus has elected to adopt the Reform Act allowing for a leadership review.

The Tory leader has visited the Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot where he is attempting to regain a seat after a byelection is expected to be called in the coming weeks.

Poilievre said in a recently released video that he plans to learn from the election loss and is making it his mission to grow the party.

“We didn’t get over the finish line, which means that I need to learn and grow, and our team needs to expand,” Poilievre said in the video.

Former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer is taking on the role of interim leader of the Opposition until after the byelection.