Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet took the most media questions during the 37-day snap election campaign, more than three times the 138 Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accepted at his near-daily press conferences.

In comparison to Blanchet’s tally of 460, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh responded to reporters 444 times, while Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney took 323 questions.

The Hill Times tracked all the media questions, including follow-ups, fielded by each federal leader at their daily broadcast press conferences from March 23 to April 27. Poilievre’s approach to national media gained scrutiny as the campaign tour progressed, due to the policy of limiting the number of questions to four on most days. The team has also said it’s making an effort to ensure an “equitable balance” between national and local, independent, or minority-community-focused outlets, which, on some days, were granted three or all four of the available questions. 

 

Stuart Benson began covering Parliament Hill in early 2022, reporting on political party apparatuses and fundraising, policing and public safety, women and youth, marijuana, heritage, the Bloc Québécois, and the Green Party. He is also The Hill Times’ regular Party Central columnist. Benson previously covered local news and municipal politics at The Low Down to Hull and Back News in Wakefield, Que., where he began his professional journalism career in February 2020. He also won a Quebec Community Newspaper Award in 2021 for Best News Story and Best Agricultural Story, as well as winning a Canadian Community Newspaper award for Best Campus News story in 2020. See all stories BY STUART BENSON