Poilievre's Cozy Relationship with Loblaw's Lobbyist

Key takeaways:

• Pierre Poilievre’s top advisor, Jenni Byrne, is a registered lobbyist for Loblaws. At the same time, Poilievre has publicly attacked grocery CEOs over high food prices.

  
  

• Poilievre and Byrne share a long personal and professional history, including a past romantic relationship. Byrne remains one of the most powerful people in his campaign and the Conservative Party.

  
  

• This close connection raises serious questions about conflicts of interest. While Poilievre claims to fight for lower grocery bills, his inner circle is tied to one of the biggest food retailers in the country.

For more than a year now, alarm bells have been raised about the longtime relationship between Pierre Poilievre and his most-senior advisor, Jenni Byrne.

In a recent in-depth look at Byrne by Maclean's, she was described as: "The ruthless tactician behind Pierre Poilievre's campaign has spent decades shaping Canadian conservatism from behind the scenes. This year's election will be her greatest achievement—or her undoing."

Poilievre and Byrne's relationship is not just professional; they were at one point described as "common law."

As Politico describes it:

"But her relationship with Poilievre has a different dynamic. Their background includes a long-term romantic relationship, a bond once described on Poilievre's Wikipedia page as 'common law' — a suggestion that things were serious."

While they may no longer be romantically involved, there is no doubt that Jenni Byrne remains in the highest levels of influence in the Poilievre campaign and the Conservative Party. This is well known and well reported. What has gotten much less attention, despite many attempts to raise the alarm, is what Byrne is doing with her lobbying firm Jenni Byrne + Associates.

Byrne's lobby firm lists food-giant Loblaws as a client, which as former PM Trudeau pointed out in February 2024: "Pierre Poilievre has been standing up for months now pretending he cares about high grocery prices faced by Canadians... [but] It turns out that his top adviser is working as a lobbyist for Loblaws. I think Mr. Poilievre owes some explanations to Canadians."

You can see the connections between Byrne, Poilievre and Loblaws here on this extensively researched interactive map: Poilievre Mapped: His Inner Circle of Lobbyists and Right-wing Activists