Doug Ford’s Campaign Manager Rumoured To Be Coming After Pierre Poilievre - What You Need To Know

Now you may have a rumor coming around of Corey Tanik and a campaign that may be starting to to come against the Federal Conservatives and Pierre Polya to try to push him out.So ladies and gentlemen, I just want you to be aware that this may be a possibility.So about a month ago, maybe a little more, there was some background chatter in the political scene about a theory that someone was going to start something up after the B .C.election.

And we've been hearing this rumor for a little while.

Yeah.And what we had essentially heard was that there was going to be a non -federal non -federal person and team that was going to start trying to take pot shots at the federal conservative leadership, meaning Pierre Polyev.And we just sort of filed it away.We said, OK, we'll see what happens with that.And yesterday we heard again from a completely different source, that this was going to be organized by Mr. Cory Tonight.This is the rumor that we heard.

And that there was going to be someone from, potentially, the Ontario caucus that might be joining in order to kind of start running this.Now, what might this look like?That I can't tell you.I don't know if this is going to take the shape of, say, the Protecting Canada type of attacks that have been going against Pierre Polyev from that association with people that we connected to, Munk and Associates, and the NDP, and some Liberals.I don't know if that's the way it's going to go.But we heard that Corey Tanaik had told some people And I guess they didn't really like that.

And they were well, it made its way back to us.Let's just say that as many things do.Yeah.So this is this this really started to bother us.And so we decided that maybe it was time that Canadians started to get to know and we get to know a little better who this guy is named Corey tonight.So as some people may know, some people don't.

He has been Doug Ford's campaign manager.He's been in politics for a while.And he has he's branded himself a conservative.Doug Ford has called him the best campaign manager in the country.But a lot of people don't like him.And a lot of people don't like him because although he brands himself a conservative, he doesn't really act like a conservative, according to a lot of people.

And if you want to know what I mean by that, this was Corey tonight, allegedly a conservative on April 10th, 2025.Just to remind everybody, the election was on April 28th, 2025.Most Conservatives, if they actually regard themselves as Conservatives, were doing everything within their power to try to get the Conservatives elected.Mr. Corey Tanaik chose a different approach.

Something else making waves on the campaign trail tonight, a leading conservative strategist taking aim at his own party.Cory tonight was Stephen Harper's campaign spokesperson in the 2015 election campaign and just ran Doug Ford's successful provincial campaign.He's also a regular commentator for us here at CTV News.Here's what he said today on the Curse of Politics podcast.Take a listen.

We talk sometimes about campaign malpractice.Blowing a 25 point lead and being like 10 points down is campaign malpractice at the highest level.It's going to be about how we talk to Laura Stone.Like, like, you know, how many how many questions did he get on Laura Stone?Like and and and look, you know, gross, like it was gross.And he is losing women and losing women massively.

All right, Corey is with me live in studio.A few less F -bombs in this conversation.Thanks for making the time.I appreciate it as always.

Well, it is the curse of politics.

Yes, exactly.This was just plain old power play.No F -bombs necessary.We'll keep it clean.Yeah, exactly.So the headline out of this, and it certainly generated a ton of reaction throughout the day, I can't tell you how many people sent me some of what you said, is certainly the idea that you say this is campaign malpractice at the highest level.

Why are you saying that?

Because we blew a 25 point lead.That's why.Okay.

Fact check time?

First off...first off, Mr. Mr. Tineik doesn't really sound like we does it?We?So that's, that's the first part.I don't even have to get to like pass the first word to start fact checking because this wasn't we.I didn't see you doing any helping at all.

No, I saw the opposite.

Yeah.So that's the first part.And then he, he, he uses the, the, the liberal trope of 25 point lead.

So, so, If you look at the polls that were done in 2025, even late 2024, the maximum that I had ever seen, I think it was like 46 or 48, and then the Conservatives ended up with 41 percent of the vote share.So at most you could say that it was seven points, but I think most What would you say?Most reputable pollsters were putting them around 45 -ish.

Yeah, so they lost six points, okay?The way this is trying to be framed is that you went from 47 down to 22 or something like that.

Yeah, which did not happen.

And this is the most infuriating part of it, this whole thing.And I think it's just gross and disgusting that for people that brand themselves conservatives, to be to be saying this.And then look at the effect that this has.Right.Because the conservatives and most other people are not in the in in the in the studios doing interviews during the election.They're out campaigning.

Right.So you have the mouthpieces and and the talking heads and the political punters.going on these shows and giving their opinion, which is what they're supposed to do.

I mean, we were lucky to get the 15 minutes we did the night before the election.You know what I mean?

Right.

The politicians are so busy, like they shouldn't be sitting around on Facebook or sitting in a studio doing interviews.They need to be on the ground knocking on doors.And that's what the Conservatives did.

So this this was this was Corey helping.And this wasn't the only instance, as many people know.This continued, and it continued, and it continued.And let's just go further ahead.This is in October.Okay, so the election's gone.

This is October.Right now, Polyev continues to trail his party in popularity.And the sort of mean girls, acidic apple eating kind of style that he brings to media relations at times, I don't think makes them more likable.I think it makes them less likable.So I don't get the strategy and I don't get the tactics in doing that.And I just don't see what's gained by acting like a jerk, frankly.

So I want to address the apple thing because we were speaking to, I believe it was a staff member, back on May 2nd when we had gone to the event that the Conservative MP Fred Davies had held in his riding.And I was just talking to the staff and they had said, yeah, that interview with Pierre, we can't believe it went viral because we didn't realize it was being recorded.We just thought it was like a press interview, like a print interview.So he was just standing there talking and eating the apple.And then we saw it on the Internet later and we were like, Oh.

yeah.And everyone started contacting him about it.Um, so interesting little story.Well, think about it.Do you, do you honestly think that a politician is going to, is going to have somebody come up?Hey, can we do a recorded interview?

Sure.Let me get a piece of food and start eating it.So, so I'm, I'm, I'm slurping all over the place on camera.Let me just get ready for you.I don't think he would have intentionally done that.

No.And even the staff didn't realize that it was like a recorded interview.Like then you can say, Oh, well, how did they not see the camera or whatever that part?I don't know, but they thought it was for print.They didn't think it was.like a recorded interview.

I know that some journalists, even when we've spoken to them, they will record what you're saying, but they'll also write it down.And that's, I think, what they thought.

Well, a lot of times what you'll have is you'll have people holding up phones just to record the sound.And then what they'll do is they'll transcribe that later to make sure that they got everything that that he actually said.So anyhow.OK, so this is just two snippets.The Internet is full.of all kinds of of spots where just Corey doesn't let up.

And there was there was another clip that I found where he said that the that the federal conservatives were amateurish in their in their approach and how they're doing things.And it's just continuing to denigrate the federal conservatives and what they're doing.You know, have you have you reached out to him?Have you offered your opinion?Maybe not.You know, you're your boss, Mr. Ford.

He ended up sitting down having coffee with Mark Carney and endorsing the liberal.Why?Because he needs a boogeyman in Ottawa.That's how Doug Ford tries to get reelected again.So he can blame everything when it goes wrong on the liberals.It doesn't serve his interests to have a conservative party in the federal government.

And that just shows you where his patriotism is at.So this takes us to this year.Now, yesterday we posted this.So it said, congrats to the new leader of the BC Conservatives, Carrie Lynn Finley.Now, I just want to reiterate again, we don't have any negative feelings toward Carolyn Elliott.Unfortunately, I think what happened, because a lot of people have actually said this, is they said, I supported Carolyn Elliott until Corey took over.

then I couldn't support her anymore.So maybe that was an issue.But there's some weird things that went on.So this is how the polls went from December until the actual, you know, latest polls for the leadership race.So you can see that you have all the different candidates at the top, and there's the different pollsters on the left.So you have Palace Data, Main Street, you have Western Standard, and Research Corporation.

Okay, so from about February onward, Most of them had Carolyn Elliott leading.Now Corey took over as campaign manager in January.and what's also interesting is back in February Carolyn Finley, if you just go by palace, she was at 3%.Then you look at where Carolyn Finley was in early May and she was all the way up to 24 % to Carolyn Elliott's 30 .5 or 31.They would have seen this rise and what's very strange is that This came up.Carolyn Finley facing federal election parole.

This was on May 20th.BC Conservative leadership candidate faces allegations related to undeclared campaign services and foreign nationals canvassing.This came out from a couple of people who made a complaint, but the people who made the complaint are not identified.

Of course.

I wonder who those people who made the complaint were being.We may never know, but I just find it convenient.I have no evidence.But I find it convenient because this hasn't really gone anywhere.This went to the the B .C.

Conservative Leadership Committee, and it was proposed to them the question whether or not to kick Carolyn Finlay out of the running or not.It was voted that she was allowed to stay in.Sounds like that was a good thing because she eventually won.So whether that was a legitimate complaint or whether that was some very shady shenanigans that was going on in the race, I couldn't tell you.it doesn't really look good, does it?At least not to me.

Now, there's some other interesting things that you should know.Mr. Tanaik, he's actually the CEO and founder of a lobbying firm called Rubicon Strategies.And this is something that you should know.So the provincial election happened early last year, so that's fine.Well, you should understand what happened after that.Clients of lobby firms connected to Premier, his nephew, give tens of millions in training funds.

Groups represented by a lobbying firm owned by the Premier's campaign manager, that would be Mr. Tanaik, got more than $100 million in grant money.a Trillium analysis has found.

Clients of lobbying firms with close connections to Premier Doug Ford and his nephew have been hugely successful in applying to the province's Skills Development Fund, a grant program Ontario's Auditor General recently characterized as, quote, not fair, transparent or accountable, end quote.Clients of a single firm, Rubicon Strategy, have received more than $100 million from the Skills Development Fund, or SDF, according to a Trillium analysis of government spending logs and lobbying records.Rubicon is owned by Corey Tanik, the Premier's campaign manager.The sum of taxpayer money given to Rubicon clients from the Ministry of Labour's main fund for training and upskilling workers is nearly three times the amount received by clients of the second most successful lobbying firm.Rubicon was registered to lobby for 16 organizations that received SDF grants.around when the funding decisions were made, more than twice as many as the firm with the second most.

Around when they applied for funding, Sussex Strategy represented six clients that ended up receiving about $37 .5 million from the fund in total.Two clients of Upstream Strategy received about $31 .6 million.of Council Public Affairs received upwards of $27 .5 million, six of On Point Strategies received about $21 .6 million, and four that Atlas Strategic Advisors was registered for got about $21 .5 million.Launched in 2021, the Skills Development Fund has become one of the Ford Government's favourite initiatives.Ford recently called the $2 .5 billion funding program quote, the best investment we've ever done, end quote.Last week, Ontario's Auditor General raised concerns about the program, saying it was, quote, not fair, transparent, or accountable, end quote.

Less than half of recipients were given, quote unquote, high scores on their proposals by the nonpartisan civil servants tasked with evaluating them, according to a report her office released on Wednesday.

Okay, so just quickly, what that means is these proposals that were sent in that were supposed to be evaluated in a nonpartisan way, and whoever got the high score is supposed to get the grant.Yeah, only, well, less than half of them actually got good scores.Meaning, the other people actually evaluating this, including the ministers, were like, hmm, yeah, you know what?It doesn't matter.Give these guys the grants.So that's what that means.

low and medium -ranked applications that enlisted lobbyists' help beforehand and received $126 million in SDF grants.It also found that 39 high -ranked applications that had lobbyists registered for them received $58 million from the fund.On the role lobbyists have played, Spence wrote, quote, given that the minister's office selects the applicants for funding and does not select only the applicants that have the highest score, this can create an appearance of real or potential preferential treatment by the minister's office in its selection of applicants to fund, end quote.

Isn't that interesting, folks?So you have Mr. Tonight's lobbying firm and consulting firm, and he runs Mr. Ford's campaign, and you then have his firm being awarded these grants after Mr. Ford wins his election.Please tell me what a conflict of interest is if it isn't that.How is that not a conflict of interest when the actual CEO of said company is your campaign manager, gets you elected, and then boom, your clients get $100 million in this funding, and we don't know how much of that money went back into Rubicon's pockets.We don't know.

Well, and the crazy thing to me is that this whole program is two and a half billion dollars and it's going to lobbying firms or clients of lobbying firms.I mean, what could that buy in terms of education or health care that could buy two and a half new hospitals?

Well, and if conservatives are all about a meritocracy.and it's been proven that less than half of these proposals were actually chosen because of their merit, doesn't really sound too conservative to me.Just saying.Speaking of lobbyists, we're not done.Folks, we have only, I'm not even gonna say scratched the service because I don't even think there's a scratch in here yet.We're literally just putting our hands on the paint.

And we're starting to find some crazy stuff like this.Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a lobbying catalog.Now, this is the lobbying catalog for a company called Rupican Strategies.This is the lobbying firm that Corey Tanik is the CEO of.What would a conservative be doing leading a lobbying firm that is representing a company called Atkins Reales?

That name sounds familiar.

Just to recall, just to refresh everybody's memory on this, Atkins Reales was renamed to Ray Atkins Riales after their brand went into the tank because their old name used to be S .N .C.Lavalin.What is a conservative who owns a very powerful lobbying firm doing, allowing his firm to represent basically the devil incarnate when it comes to conservatives, S .

N .C.Lavalin?

Well, somebody's got to do it.And this wasn't just a one time thing, folks.Here's page1. Here's page2. Here's page3. Here's page

4. This goes on and on and on and on.

And if you notice, some of them had red bars on the left side and some of them had green.The green ones are the outliers.ones.

So the things that they're talking to the Liberal government about nuclear energy, remember the Liberal commitment to small modular reactors and the plan to move to nuclear.Yeah.So Atkins Royalis owns CanDo, one of the premier nuclear companies in Canada.

Well, it's the best reactors in the world.

I think it's very interesting that also Atkins Reales ended up getting part of the big $90 billion Alto contract.The $90 billion Alto contract that we're going to be on Parliament Hill to help protest on the 10th of June.So this is the conservative, allegedly.Please explain to me how this makes any sense.You have his firm that is in a very questionable investigation regarding $100 million of this.You have him talking about the Conservatives and in a very negative way.

Let's just call it what it is.It was it was hit piece after hit piece by Mr. Tonight during the federal election when he was on these panels.And he's still been going on about it, acting like he is God's gift to campaigning.And then he loses in spectacular fashion, the B .C.leadership race.

So all this comes down to if we're going to be seeing any sort of campaign from Mr. Corey tonight, Against mr. Pierre Polly of mr. Pierre Polly of didn't say anything negative about Carolyn Elliott did did he mr Polly of and his team didn't say anything negative about mr Ford when he was trying to run for his reelection did he know because that's

the proper thing to do, right?If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

So, what we expect to see is some crazy stuff that comes out.Who knows what it's even going to be.Just remember, Pierre Polyev was confirmed by 87 .4 % of support from his own delegates, not his MPs.

Delegates the MPs were part of those delegates, but they made up a very small fraction They were 1 in 12 and less than 1 in 12 because not every single writing had a MP that was conservative, right?

But if you take out all of those MPs, he still would have won in a landslide.Yep so the base has spoken the party has spoken and now you may have a rumor coming around of Corey tonight and and a campaign that may be starting to come against the Federal Conservatives and Pierre Polya to try to push him out.So, ladies and gentlemen, I just want you to be aware that this may be a possibility and to understand the type of environment and the type of persona that this is coming from.So, if I could offer any words of advice, in case this is true, Mr. Tanaik, I would recommend that you keep your hands in your own pocket.in your own area of politics, why don't you stick to Ontario and let Pierre Polyev and the federal conservatives, they can focus on the country.And if you really want to call yourself a conservative, why don't you actually do what conservatives do and join in and get to work instead of sitting on the sidelines and just hurling insults.

Because that's not what conservatives do, that's what liberals do.