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OTTAWA — The Conservative party is breaking from tradition and will not be allowing media onboard planes and buses to cover Pierre Poilievre’s election campaign.
In an email Tuesday, national campaign director Jenni Byrne said costs for travel have “risen considerably,” as has the capacity for digital and remote access to public events.
Byrne also said in recent years, media outlets have chosen to tag staff from local bureaus to cover events rather than fly journalists from Ottawa across the country for the entire duration of the campaign.
Byrne said her team wants to stress that the campaign will ensure “strong, fair, and equitable media access.”
For decades, federal election campaigns for the main political parties have provided seats on leaders’ tours, with the media organizations paying the party for the travel and other fees, so that journalists can access events, ask questions to hold leaders to account and closely observe the campaigns.
Byrne says steps have been taken to ensure that Canadian media will be able to “share any public events, participate in events on the ground, and ask questions remotely and in-person.”
Byrne said those steps include providing bureaus with two to three days’ notice on event locations, providing full conferencing services for media availabilities and providing “a dedicated resource based in the Ottawa campaign office” to help coordinate travel and technological logistics.
Byrne said there will be an “equitable balance” at all press conferences between local and national media.
On top of a public livestream, Byrne said events will also make a professional-grade feed available.
Christopher Waddell, a professor emeritus at Carleton University’s journalism school, said it’s “not a total surprise” that a party has chosen not to let media on its plane.
He said this move “has been coming for a while” as the size of the media entourage following the leader has been getting smaller.
Waddell said the situation creates an “interesting opportunity” for the media to spend less time following the leaders and more time talking to voters. He said reporters can arrive at an event early and stay later to get reactions from the public.
“It creates an opportunity to do different types of journalism, which might be more interesting to audiences,” Waddell said.
Waddell said, however, that the decision could mean higher costs for media and that it gives the Conservatives more control over coverage. He said the party could choose not to provide media with a fulsome agenda and that the party could choose which media organizations are able to ask questions.
Waddell added that while the Conservatives say they will give media two to three days’ notice on event locations, that could change depending on how the campaign goes.
Jeffrey Dvorkin, a senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, says the Conservatives’ decision is firmly against the tradition of how political parties allow media organizations to be available for comment on a daily basis.
“This is an indication that the Conservatives just don’t want that kind of scrutiny, that kind of journalistic presence,” Dvorkin said, adding that it’s important for journalists to be able to ask questions in person.
“I think this is really a step backwards in how journalism and politics are conducted in this country.”
Dvorkin said the decision will make it harder for traditional news organizations to have access. He said the idea that parliamentary press has equal access to politicians as bloggers is “a disservice to electoral politics” and democracy.
“This is a very bad sign for Canadian electoral politics,” Dvorkin said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
