On April 28, Canada held a federal election that resulted in Liberal Party leader Mark Carney maintaining his role as Prime Minister, and the Liberals forming a minority government. Among the other notable party leaders vying for the role during this election were Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party, Jagmeet Singh of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Yves-François Blanchet of the Bloc Québécois, Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault entering the election as co leaders for the Green Party, and Maxime Bernier of the People’s Party.
The media plays a significant role in the election process, often amplifying the visibility of political party leaders. It stands to reason that party leaders would aim to maximize their media presence in order to boost public awareness and support their campaigns for Prime Minister. With that in mind, it would be valuable to examine how frequently each party leader appeared in the media during the official election campaign period—from the announcement on March 23 to election day on April 28. While it’s not suggested that media mentions alone determined electoral outcomes—success is likely shaped by a confluence of factors, including but not limited to media presence—it remains compelling to assess the volume of media coverage each leader received, particularly in light of the final election results.
Using Agility PR Solutions’ proprietary software, our Media Analysis team conducted research to determine how often each of the seven federal party leaders appeared in Canadian media between March 23rd—the day the election was called—and election day on April 28th. The search captured all media mentions of these individuals during the specified timeframe, not just those directly related to election coverage. This broader approach was intentional, based on the assumption that any media exposure—such as coverage of Mark Carney in the context of international geopolitics—could shape public perception and, in turn, influence voting behavior. The analysis was restricted to Canadian media outlets, as mentions during a national election are most relevant in a domestic context.
To further learn from the data, the number of media mentions for each of the seven federal political party leaders was compared across Canadian media outlets based in each of the country’s 10 provinces and 3 territories. Agility’s proprietary software allows for easy segmentation of media coverage by geographic region, including continents, countries, provinces or states, and even specific counties and cities. For the purposes of this analysis, provincial-level comparisons were deemed sufficient, as provinces have historically demonstrated distinct political leanings that can meaningfully influence media dynamics and public sentiment.
The Analysis
The following section presents the data on media presence for each of the seven federal political party leaders during the 2025 election period (March 23 to April 28). First, a national-level analysis will compare the Share of Voice (i.e., proportion of total media mentions) among the seven leaders across Canadian media followed by a provincial breakdown, highlighting regional variations in Share of Voice rankings. While the overall national trend is generally reflected across provinces, some notable deviations will be identified and discussed. Finally, the analysis will explore which provinces contributed most significantly to each leader’s media presence, focusing on the top three provinces by media mention volume for each leader.
Share of Voice – Canada
Across Canada, Mark Carney—who served as Prime Minister during the election period—received the highest share of media mentions, accounting for 50% of all coverage between March 23 and April 28. He was followed by Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre with 21%, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh with 17%. Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet accounted for 8% of the total coverage, while Green Party co-leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault received 2% and 1% respectively. People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier had the lowest share, with 0.7% of total media mentions during the campaign period.
Share of Voice Per Province
Across all 10 provinces and 3 territories of Canada, the media coverage trend generally mirrors the national pattern. In every region, Mark Carney received the highest share of coverage during the election period. In most cases, he was followed in order by Pierre Poilievre, Jagmeet Singh, Yves-François Blanchet, Elizabeth May, Jonathan Pedneault, and Maxime Bernier.
Given the significantly lower media presence of May, Pedneault, and Bernier compared to the top four leaders, these three have been grouped together under the category “Other” in the main bar graph to simplify interpretation. A secondary bar graph follows, providing a detailed breakdown of media coverage among the “Other” group.
While most provinces follow this general ranking, a few deviations in leader share-of-voice were observed.
Share of Voice Per Province – All Party Leaders
Pierre Poilievre is typically the second most mentioned leader in each province and performed best among Quebec (25%) and Alberta (24%) based media. However, he falls to third place in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland (the Maritimes) as well as in Northwest Territories, all of where Jagmeet Singh takes second place. In New Brunswick, Poilievre narrowly leads Singh by less than 0.5%. In Yukon and Nunavut, Poilievre drops to fourth behind Carney, Singh, and Elizabeth May and shows very low amounts of media mentions overall. Yukon and Nunavut are May’s strongest ranking regions, where she ranks third in overall mentions.
Elizabeth May generally ranks fifth across most provinces and territories, with the following exceptions: (1) Yukon and Nunavut – third (as noted above), (2) Quebec – seventh (last), behind Bernier and Pedneault, (3) Newfoundland – fourth, ahead of Blanchet. May’s best performance is in B.C. with 3.2% of the share of media mentions. Quebec is Yves-François Blanchet’s best performing region (19%) unsurprisingly as that is the Bloc Quebecois’ main political focus and his main hub of political activity. Here he ranks third pushing Singh to fourth. Elizabeth May’s running mate Jonathan Pedneault consistently places sixth in each province except for in the Yukon where he is the fifth most mentioned party leader ahead of Blanchet and Bernier. Pedneault received his highest share of voice compared to the other leaders in Quebec (1.4%) Lastly, Maxime Bernier generally places seventh (last) across Canada with the exception of Quebec where he ranks fifth ahead of May and Pedneault and received his highest share of voice compared to the other leaders (2%). It should be mentioned however that no mentions of Jonathan Pedneault or Maxime Bernier came out of media outlets from Nunavut.
Provincial Share-of-Voice
An analysis was also conducted to identify which provinces and territories generated the highest volume of media coverage for each party leader. For Mark Carney, Pierre Poilievre, and Jonathan Pedneault, the top three sources of media mentions were consistently Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. This result is largely expected, as these provinces house the majority of Canada’s media infrastructure and outlets, naturally leading to higher volumes of coverage for national political figures.
For Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh, the majority of their media coverage came from outlets in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec respectively. Notably, British Columbia ranks second for these two party leaders. This is particularly interesting given that both May and Singh represent ridings in British Columbia, highlighting the regional importance of their leadership and the media’s focus on their respective political roles in the province.
For Yves-François Blanchet and Maxime Bernier, the bulk of their media coverage originated from Quebec, which is unsurprising given Blanchet’s prominence and focus within the province. Bernier, too, has historically had a strong foothold in Quebec, particularly with his riding in Beauce, which he held during his time as a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party.
Interestingly, British Columbia was the third-largest source of coverage for Bernier, which aligns with the trends seen for the other five party leaders, as many media outlets are based in the province. However, Alberta emerging as Blanchet’s third-highest source of media mentions stands out, making his data distinct from the other six leaders. Alberta is home to a significant number of media outlets—more than most provinces and territories (with the exception of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia).
Conclusion: Getting a different angle on a big news story
Brands often assess their media presence from a high-level perspective, primarily focusing on total mentions and impressions on a global or national scale. For those who prefer a qualitative analysis—such as identifying key messages or top themes—this approach is typically applied at the global or national level as well. However, there can be significant value in taking a more granular approach and examining how media presence varies across smaller regions similar to how this analysis examined the media mentions of Canada’s political party leaders during the election period. This could include assessments at the state, province, city, or even county level, where differences in the quantity and quality of brand mentions may emerge. For instance, certain regions might have a higher volume of positive or negative media coverage, which could provide PR professionals with critical insights to tailor their outreach strategy more effectively.
In some cases, the regions a PR professional may be interested in could be defined less by geography and more by market-specific data. Agility allows for the analysis of Designated Market Areas (DMAs) in the U.S., enabling users to analyze data at the county or city level by appropriately categorizing these areas into their respective DMAs.
Moreover, Agility’s proprietary software offers advanced tools to segment media data in various ways beyond just geographic regions. These include filters for media type (e.g., online, TV, radio, print), social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, X, Instagram), sentiment (positive, negative, neutral), language, and even more complex measures such as media outlet prestige (e.g., high vs. low impressions or domain authority) and the prominence of mentions (e.g., high vs. low focus on the brand). By applying these granular filters, PR professionals can gain deeper insights into their media presence, which can significantly inform and refine their outreach strategy. The ease of access to these filters in Agility ensures that this level of analysis is just a click away.
This research was conducted by Agility PR Solutions’ team of media analysis experts.
