Jeff Ballingall’s company, Mobilize Media, has been sustained by the Poilievre Conservative leadership campaign, sources familiar with the recruitment told CBC News. CBC News does not disclose the identities of the sources because they are not authorized to speak publicly about it. The Poilievre campaign declined to comment. Ballingall specializes in communicative, anti-liberal messages that often acquire a mocking or indignant tone. The Canada Proud and Ontario Proud accounts have garnered hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook and tens of thousands more on Twitter and Instagram. Mobilize Media believes it offers digital strategies, empowering online communities to support a campaign and helping customers gather “data treasures” to guide a campaign “and measure its impact”. By itself, Poilievre has already created social media content that has been shared hundreds of thousands of times. But boosting his online messages from Ballingall’s assets will undoubtedly help the candidate. A recent Canada Proud post, for example, featured a news article on Poilievre’s energy policy with the comment, “Money to Canadians, not dirty dictatorships. Do you agree with Pierre Poilievre?” Another compared images from a Pierre Poilievre rally with hundreds of attendees to a photo of rival candidate Jean Charest holding a meeting in what is supposed to be the same room with less than two dozen supporters visible. The caption read: “One half”. It has been notified more than 800 times. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole speaks to supporters at a rally in Richmond Hill, Ontario, on August 17, 2021. (Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press)
In the last leadership campaign, the final winner Erin O’Toole also collaborated with Ballingall. At the time, Ballingall told The National Post that Proud’s pages would remain neutral – although both regularly featured content that flattered O’Toole. Ballingol was a shareholder in the conservative news website The Post Millennial but has since sold his shares, according to a media spokesman.

Controversial messages

Donation-funded Ballingall pages throw in a few verbal clicks that can be of direct concern to a politician. An example is a post saying that while inflation has made Canadian money “worth less”, Prime Minister Justin Trinto is “useless”. While Ballingall’s services can boost a campaign, Proud pages have received significant criticism. Jeff Ballingall says the bread and butter of his communications company are women 55 and older. (CBC)
In the run-up to Ontario provincial elections in 2018, CBC News reported that comments insulting the appearance and sexual orientation of then-Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne were visible on Ontario Proud’s Facebook page. Some of the comments used swear words and one reader said he wondered why no one shot Winn. “We are not going to comment on a site that supports profanity, abusive and abusive comments,” Wynne’s office said at the time. Critics such as Press Progress, a news agency founded by the Broadbent Institute in 2013, have denounced some of Canada Proud’s posts as racist – including a March 2021 post suggesting the Trinto government was skinning age and medical history when deciding who should be vaccinated. In fact, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said that tribal communities were disproportionately affected by COVID and were among the risk groups that should be given priority. Ballingall’s pages also regularly criticize the CBC, which Poilievre said he would refinance if he became prime minister. While Ballingall’s techniques have been sharpened and criticized, his ability to reach out to conservatives who like him remains clearly attractive in campaigns. In a 2019 interview with Toronto Life magazine, Ballingall was asked to identify Ontario Proud’s biggest fans. “Our bread is women 55 and older. They are the most active on Facebook and the members of this demographic group also vote with the highest numbers, so it is important to reach out to these people,” she told the post. I say to my team: ‘How would you explain this political issue to your aunt? Simplify it, explain why it matters, do not patronize “.