Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre is about to lose his director of communications, Katy Merrifield.
Merrifield, along with Conservative campaign manager Steve Outhouse, have been widely seen within the Conservative caucus as the two most significant agents of change in the way Poilievre has been approaching politics since the Conservatives lost the 2025 election.
She claimed that it was her own decision to leave. Merrifield stated, “I put a few projects on hold when I decided to join the leader’s office last summer, and it’s time for me to return to them.” “I will continue to support the leader, team, and conservative movement long after I leave this role,” the candidate said. “I’m proud of my contributions to the movement over the past year.” Merrifield, 42, joined Poilievre’s office last fall and quickly set about changing Poilievre’s media strategy and communications approach. Poilievre, for example, began doing more interviews and appearances on so-called “legacy media” including Global News, CBC, and CTV — media that he had largely shunned from the time he won his party’s leadership in 2022 to the 2025 election.
She was widely credited with convincing Poilievre to do one thing he had never done before: attend and participate in a Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner.
Merrifield’s last day in the Opposition Leader’s Office will be Friday.
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Merrifield moved to Ottawa from Vancouver, where she had been Christy Clark’s director of communications. She was also the executive director of communications to former Alberta premier Jason Kenney.
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