As Poilievre targets tax havens, Conservatives rack up big business endorsements

A political scientist says Pierre Poilievre's open resentment toward offshore tax havens and corporate jets likely isn't enough to sever his Conservative Party's relationship with business leaders.

That's illustrated with endorsements by more than 30 prominent executives in newspaper advertisements that ran Saturday across the country, Lori Turnbull said.

While Poilievre has railed against the excesses of the corporate elite, "I think there's a world where the business community is like, 'Whatever — that rhetoric is just politics. He's trying to get votes,'" said Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University.

"If Poilievre becomes prime minister, is he likely to embark on a whole bunch of things that are going to hurt the business community? Probably not."

Current and former business executives, including Fairfax Financial CEO Prem Watsa, Canaccord Genuity CEO Dan Daviau and past Scotiabank president Brian Porter, signed the open letter, arguing the Conservatives are best positioned to shepherd Canada through the ongoing tariff chaos.

The leaders say the next government must drive entrepreneurship and innovation, lower taxes, develop natural resources and curb spending.

"It's because of President Trump's threats that Pierre's plan makes so much sense," the open letter reads.

The corporate endorsement comes three weeks into an election campaign in which Poilievre has decried "global elites" who stash their money in offshore locations to avoid paying taxes — a legal practice the party is targeting forcefully. 

If elected, Poilievre has vowed to close loopholes that allow companies to "stash their money away in tax havens and avoid paying their fair share here in Canada."

And he'd ask the Canada Revenue Agency to shift its focus from "harassing and auditing innocent small business owners" to cracking down on tax havens.

Even if Poilievre as prime minister clamps down on tax shelters, or ends the tax writeoff for corporate jets, Turnbull said some business leaders would consider that a worthy trade.

Hallmarks of his business policies include lower taxes, fewer regulations and fast-tracking major infrastructure projects.

Turnbull suggested Poilievre is creating a wedge issue around tax havens, given that Liberal Leader Mark Carney previously managed three investment funds registered in offshore tax havens, all while continuing his wooing of the working-class voters that aren't traditionally seen as part of the Conservative base.

"I think it's indicative of the conservative movement moving toward this more populist thread," she said.