Conservative Leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre fired back at anti-populist pollster Frank Graves, calling him a member of the “gatekeeping elite.”.“CBC pundit threatens me. The gatekeeping elites will try to destroy anyone who threatens their power. I’m not backing down,” Poilievre said in a Tweet on Wednesday. “Help me defund the CBC, remove the gatekeepers, and give you back control of your life..Poilievre was responding to an April 15 Tweet made by Graves, who is the president and founder of polling company EKOS Research Associates..“Pierre Poilievre is an acolyte of authoritarian populism. This is never healthy. You are on notice. Going to make sure you are never going to lead my country. I don’t make idle threats,” Graves wrote..Graves deleted the Tweet shortly after it was sent, but not before they were screen-shotted and widely shared on social media. The pollster offered his apology shortly thereafter..“I sent some rude and intolerant tweets recently. I apologize. I am deeply concerned with the rise of right-wing authoritarian populism but I expressed my concerns in a harsh and aggressive manner. I am sorry,” he Tweeted..Graves said the original Tweet led him to receive over 1000 “absolutely vile and threatening” tweets and emails. “Not one comes from anyone I respect or care about or could have any impact on my reputation or business,” he added..In an interview with the National Post, Graves said he should express his opinions “more temperately, or keep them to myself., but he denied his personal bias impacted EKOS’s polling data..“You wouldn’t be in business for the amount of time I’ve been, and been as successful as I am, if you torqued your data,” he says..Graves also predicted a Poilievre government would mean a decline in EKOS’s business with the federal government. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper slashed the budget for polling from $31 million in 2007, down to $7 million by 2010..Graves did not respond to a request for comment from the Western Standard, but he did reply directly to Poilievre’s Tweet..“BTW if I was front-runner in race to be “Prime Minister ” I would not have bothered engaging me. Just saying,” he replied. “And BTW I am not now nor ever have been a CBC pundit. Feel free to manufacture your own facts.”.Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
Conservative Leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre fired back at anti-populist pollster Frank Graves, calling him a member of the “gatekeeping elite.”.“CBC pundit threatens me. The gatekeeping elites will try to destroy anyone who threatens their power. I’m not backing down,” Poilievre said in a Tweet on Wednesday. “Help me defund the CBC, remove the gatekeepers, and give you back control of your life..Poilievre was responding to an April 15 Tweet made by Graves, who is the president and founder of polling company EKOS Research Associates..“Pierre Poilievre is an acolyte of authoritarian populism. This is never healthy. You are on notice. Going to make sure you are never going to lead my country. I don’t make idle threats,” Graves wrote..Graves deleted the Tweet shortly after it was sent, but not before they were screen-shotted and widely shared on social media. The pollster offered his apology shortly thereafter..“I sent some rude and intolerant tweets recently. I apologize. I am deeply concerned with the rise of right-wing authoritarian populism but I expressed my concerns in a harsh and aggressive manner. I am sorry,” he Tweeted..Graves said the original Tweet led him to receive over 1000 “absolutely vile and threatening” tweets and emails. “Not one comes from anyone I respect or care about or could have any impact on my reputation or business,” he added..In an interview with the National Post, Graves said he should express his opinions “more temperately, or keep them to myself., but he denied his personal bias impacted EKOS’s polling data..“You wouldn’t be in business for the amount of time I’ve been, and been as successful as I am, if you torqued your data,” he says..Graves also predicted a Poilievre government would mean a decline in EKOS’s business with the federal government. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper slashed the budget for polling from $31 million in 2007, down to $7 million by 2010..Graves did not respond to a request for comment from the Western Standard, but he did reply directly to Poilievre’s Tweet..“BTW if I was front-runner in race to be “Prime Minister ” I would not have bothered engaging me. Just saying,” he replied. “And BTW I am not now nor ever have been a CBC pundit. Feel free to manufacture your own facts.”.Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
