Poilievre won’t allow media to travel with him on election campaign

The Conservative party is breaking from tradition and will not be allowing media onboard planes and buses to cover Pierre Poilievre's election campaign.

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.