Pressure mounting on Poilievre to fire Jenni Byrne: sources

Pressure is mounting on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to fire Jenni Byrne, his national campaign manager, whom critics hold responsible for the party's election defeat last month, sources told Radio-Canada.

"After a loss, heads have to roll," said one Conservative.

"If Jenni Byrne stays, we won't be able to support Pierre," a second added.

"If there's no change between now and January, the caucus will lose patience," said a third.

Discontent within the Conservative ranks continues to grow three weeks after the Liberals won a fourth term in government, sources said. Many Conservatives are directly blaming Byrne, the campaign architect and Poilievre's confidante, for the loss.

"There's only one head that needs to roll, and that's Jenni's. You don't realize how she treats everyone like garbage," one Conservative source said.

Radio-Canada spoke with 12 Conservative sources for this story. They were granted confidentiality to discuss internal party matters.

Some complain of Byrne's "toxic and angry" behaviour at campaign headquarters. Others deplore her lack of communication with teams in the field. Still others feel it's her fault that Poilievre's campaign message did not adjust enough in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

Her detractors point out that she ran the Conservative campaign when Stephen Harper lost to Justin Trudeau in 2015. In their view, it's because of her that relations are strained between Poilievre and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

"When she spent too much time with Stephen Harper, she brought out his bad side," a Conservative source said. "She has the same effect on Pierre Poilievre. She is responsible for his negative tone. Everything is a war for her."

Byrne and the Conservative Party did not respond to requests for comment. The Leader of the Opposition's office declined to comment.

Some Conservatives, however, are keen to defend Byrne and credit her for the gains the party made in the election.

The Conservative party won 143 seats, its highest number since Stephen Harper's majority win in 2011. And the party won more than 41 per cent of the popular vote, its highest percentage since Brian Mulroney in 1988.

A campaign strategy aimed at winning the union and blue-collar vote in working-class areas, and the ethnic and cultural vote in Toronto's suburbs, helped limit the Liberals to a minority, these Conservatives loyal to Byrne say.

At the start of the first Conservative caucus meeting on May 5, the party's first since the election loss, Poilievre seemed to reject the idea of firing Byrne when asked about her.

"Excluding people is never the way to expand a team," the Conservative leader told reporters before the meeting.

But within that same post-election caucus meeting, which lasted for eight hours, MPs raised the question of Byrne's departure.

"It was done respectfully and without aggression," another Conservative source said. The discussion "didn't last too long either. The boss knows very well that it's an irritant," the source added.

But the Conservative troops still don't know what fate Poilievre has in store for his campaign manager.

Recent news that the Conservative convention, scheduled for next spring in Ottawa, could instead take place as early as this autumn in Alberta is rekindling the pressure.

Earlier this month, Conservative MPs voted in favour of the Reform Act, which gives them the power to hold a vote of no confidence in the leader at any time. Holding the party's convention this fall, with a vote of confidence put to the entire Conservative base, is seen by some as an attempt to bypass any such caucus efforts.

WATCH | Poilievre speaks to reporters for the first time since election loss

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking from Parliament Hill on Tuesday as he was walking to meet with his caucus, is asked what he has learned from the election, which left him without a seat in the House of Commons.

"Pierre Poilievre wants to settle the question of his leadership by a vote of the members as soon as possible to get rid of this distraction and not give his detractors time to organize," a Conservative source said.

"If members decide to give Pierre their vote of confidence at the convention, it becomes much more difficult for MPs to justify a vote of no confidence afterwards," another source said. "How could MPs then go against the wishes of the rank and file?"

The Conservative party executive is due to meet on June 14 to discuss the date and location of the national conference.

The caucus, said a Conservative source, is exhausted after three acrimonious leadership races and four general elections in 10 years.

"Fatigue has taken over," said the source. "Everyone's just tired of fighting."

The more conciliatory tone Poilievre adopted since election night, and the fact that the leader lost his seat and will have to win a by-election in Alberta to return to the Commons in a few months' time, has seemed to help cool down the dissatisfaction.

"No one seems ready to make this their hill to die on. If Jenni can acknowledge to key people in the caucus that she has learned from her mistakes, it could help her survive," a Conservative source said.

"We'll see where things go," confided a Conservative recently. "We'll give Pierre the summer to get elected and think things over. We'll see in the fall."

Despite the fatigue and the internal debates, the desire to see Byrne go remains among a good part of the Conservative movement, according to several sources.

"Jenni is a bully who operates on threats. Many MPs are either afraid of her or hate her," one Conservative said.

"If Jenni stays, it means they don't get it," said a different source.

"Pierre needs to change his negative personality and kick Jenni out," another Conservative said. "Otherwise, it's the caucus that's going to kick the leader out."