Jenni Byrne's Big Gamble

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.

- By SIMON LEWSEN Photo illustration by ANNA MINZHULINA

IF YOU LIVE in a riding with a shot of going Conservative in the federal election, there’s a chance Jenni Byrne has knocked on your door. If so, she was probably dressed sensibly, in comfortable shoes and an inexpensive jacket. She introduced herself as a member of the Conservative Party and asked how you plan to vote. She wasn’t fazed if you said you support the Liberals. But she wanted to know why. She wanted to know other things too: how do you feel about public safety, the economy, the job market? What’s keeping you up at night?

She didn’t challenge you, nor praise you if you flattered her worldview. Perhaps you wondered if you’d said something wrong. (There are no wrong answers.) When she left, you had no idea you'd spoken to one of the most important power brokers in Canada—the strategist who saved Stephen Harper’s career in 2008, won him a majority in 2011, defenestrated Erin O’Toole in 2022 and is now Pierre Poilievre’s top adviser, bringing him within striking distance of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Canvassing is the lowest form of political grunt work, tiers below Byrne’s pay grade. Yet over the past three decades she has knocked on tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of doors, in ridings across the country. As a colleague of hers told me, “Jenni lives and breathes the ground game. If you work in this business and aren't knocking on doors, you’re secondary in her eyes.” Byrne knows that the high-level work of politics—the committee meetings, the legislating—only happens because someone got elected. And she believes elections are won or lost on Canadians’ doorsteps. Throughout her career, Byrne has embodied a spiky, gut-based conservatism, one that makes few concessions to the political centre and defends itself with brass-knuckled ferocity. Her world view is rooted in a sense of aggrieved class solidarity, a belief that progressive and centrist elites don’t know or care about ordinary people.