Kory Teneycke
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Kory Teneycke (born 1974) is the former vice-president of
Sun News Network Sun News Network (commonly shortened to Sun News) was a Canadian English language Category C news channel owned by Québecor Média through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group (which maintained 51% majority ownership of the ...
. He was also the former
Director of Communications Director of communications is a position in both the private and public sectors. A director of communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Directors of communications supervis ...
to the Prime Minister's Office under
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
. He was the campaign manager for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party during the 2018 Ontario election.


Personal

Teneycke was born in Regina and raised on a grain farm in rural Saskatchewan near
Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...
. He is personal friends with
Jenni Byrne Jenni Byrne is a political advisor, political commenter, and government relations expert. A member of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, she is a former advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper a ...
and Ray Novak, all of whom were close advisors to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
. The three met while working for the
Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...
during the
1997 Canadian federal election File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
.


Career


Political activism

He worked on the Progressive Conservative campaign in the 1991 Saskatchewan election. He also worked on the losing Progressive Conservative campaign in Swift Current—Maple Creek—Assiniboia in 1993, where he met and became friends with
Brad Wall Bradley John Wall (born November 24, 1965), is a Canadian former politician who served as the 14th premier of Saskatchewan from November 21, 2007 until February 2, 2018. He is the fourth longest-tenured premier in the province's history. His so ...
. Teneycke then worked on two
Saskatchewan Party The Saskatchewan Party is a centre-right political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Since 2007, it has been the province's governing party; both the party and the province are currently led by Premier Scott Moe. The party was esta ...
campaigns—in 1999 and 2003.


Renewable Fuels Association

In 2003, he was appointed head of the
Canadian Renewable Fuels Association The Renewable Industries Canada (RICanada) is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1984. In 2016, it changed its name from Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA). The change reinforced the 32 year-old non-profit association's mission t ...
. One of his high priorities as leader was the passage of a law mandating all Canadian gasoline to contain 5 per cent renewable fuel. In early 2008, the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government of
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
passed Bill C-33, which included just such a mandate to take full effect by 2010.


Prime Minister's Office

On July 7, 2008, shortly after the passage of C-33, Teneycke was appointed the
Director of Communications Director of communications is a position in both the private and public sectors. A director of communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Directors of communications supervis ...
to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
. In addition to his external-facing duties, he was expected to be helpful in bridging relations between factions from the former Progressive Conservative and
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...
parties that had been relatively recently united to form the Conservative Party of Canada, because he had previously served roles in both parties: various organizational roles in Reform leader
Preston Manning Ernest Preston Manning (born June 10, 1942) is a Canadian retired politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in tur ...
’s office, and a senior policy adviser to Progressive Conservative Premier
Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
managing energy and environmental files. On July 28, 2009, he left the position to become the Vice President of
Sun News Network Sun News Network (commonly shortened to Sun News) was a Canadian English language Category C news channel owned by Québecor Média through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group (which maintained 51% majority ownership of the ...
.


Sun News Network

''
The Hill Times ''The Hill Times'' is a Canadian twice-weekly newspaper and daily news website, published in Ottawa, Ontario, which covers the Parliament of Canada, the federal government, and other federal political news. Founded in 1989 by Ross Dickson and Jim ...
'' reported on August 31, 2009, that Teneycke had accepted a three-month contract to provide strategic communications advice to Sun TV. After a brief stint as a political commentator for the CBC, in June 2010 Teneycke accepted a position as Vice President for Development at
Quebecor Media Quebecor Media Inc. is a Canadian media conglomerate that owns a wide array of media outlets, as well as an internet service provider. History In 1983 Quebecor purchased the Winnipeg Sun newspaper, which had been independently run. The newspap ...
. On September 15, 2010, Quebecor announced his departure. He rejoined Sun News in 2011, where he remained until
Sun News Network Sun News Network (commonly shortened to Sun News) was a Canadian English language Category C news channel owned by Québecor Média through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group (which maintained 51% majority ownership of the ...
shut down on February 13, 2015. Former Sun News Network senior anchor Krista Erickson wrote an article for ''National Newswatch'' in 2015 that singled out Teneycke, who was in charge of the channel, for criticism calling him a "controlling authoritarian" whose pro-Conservative Party "partisanship often went into overdrive" at the channel's expense. Erickson blame Teneycke for the channel reporting during the 2011 federal election of a 16-year-old incident involving
Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...
being allegedly found in a massage parlour by police. "There was no arrest, no criminal charge, therefore no criminal behaviour. On these facts, the justification of public interest was arguably thin," according to Erickson who claimed Sun News Network management nevertheless coached its on-air staff to treat the story as if it was "a major sex scandal involving the
NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...
leader." Erickson also claims that during the 2012 Alberta provincial election campaign, Teneycke "instructed me to stop reporting on the homophobic gaffes of onservative Wildrose candidates" and that Teneycke "also demanded a segment discussing the Wildrose leader's record on abortion be removed from my program lineup". Erickson also claims that, had the CRTC approved the channel's application for a mandatory carriage license, Teneycke planned to fire up to 50 per cent of Sun News Network staff, whom he suspected of being Liberal sympathizers or otherwise politically out of step with Teneycke's views, and replace them with former Conservative Party staffers. Erickson also claims that Sun News contributor Michael Taube stopped being asked to appear on the channel after he expressed disagreement with the
Harper government The premiership of Stephen Harper began on February 6, 2006, when the first Cabinet headed by Stephen Harper was sworn in by Governor General Michaelle Jean. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of ...
's proposals to allow income splitting.


Spokesman for Conservatives during the 2015 election

Following the closure of Sun News in early 2015, Teneycke re-joined the Conservative Party's staff in anticipation of the upcoming federal election. He was subsequently active as Chief Spokesman for the Conservative Party for the fall 2015 federal election.


Campaign manager for 2018 Ontario election

On March 20, 2018, it was announced that Teneycke was assigned to be the campaign manager for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party during the 2018 Ontario election. After the party won the election, sources says that Teneycke is returning to the private sector. Teneycke runs a lobbying firm, Rubicon.


Controversy


"We're better than the news"

In June 2015 during an interview with Global TV journalist Tom Clark, Teneycke defended the federal Conservative Party's use of ISIS terrorist videos which could be in violation of the Conservatives' own anti-terrorism legislation. When pressed on the legitimacy of the use of terrorist videos in their advertising, Teneycke replied "...we're better than news, we're truthful...". Tom Clark asked Teneycke to repeat his answer, but he refused.


"Group showers"

In mid-2010 Teneycke wondered on his
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account if Canadian activist
Marc Emery Marc Scott Emery (born February 13, 1958) is a Canadian cannabis rights activist, entrepreneur and politician. Often described as the "Prince of Pot", Emery has been a notable advocate of international cannabis policy reform, and has been active ...
, being held in US prison for his Canadian-based marijuana seed distribution business, is "enjoy nggroup showers as much as he enjoys pot. Three cheers for the
DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...
." Marc Emery's wife Jodie Emery said the comment "shocked and disgusted" her, adding it's "a common perception that
prison rape Prison rape or jail rape refers to sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff. China In February 2021, BBC News rep ...
happens in 'group showers.'" Jodie Emery publicly asked for an apology from Teneycke.


Category 1 for SunTV News

On July 5, 2010, the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) formally denied
Quebecor Quebecor Inc. is a Canadian diversified media and telecommunications company serving Québec based in Montreal. It was spelled Quebecor in both English and French until May 2012, when shareholders voted to add the acute accent, Québecor, in F ...
's request to have SunTV News designated as a Category 1 channel (a classification that would require all cable/satellite providers to offer the service) as all requests for this category are on hold until October 2011. At the time, Teneycke said "We’re not particularly fazed by that letter," stating "We’re looking for a cable specialty license. That’s what our initial application is for, and that’s what we’re aiming for." He indicated an amended application would be made to the CRTC. On September 3, 2010, Teneycke on CBC's ''Power and Politics'' denied Quebecor even asked the CRTC for this designation, stating "We are not nor have we ever asked for mandatory carriage of this station where Canadians would have to be obliged to pay. We're saying that we would like to have it offered but theoretically it could be carried by no one."


''Avaaz'' online petition spam

In September 2010, Teneycke responded to criticism of his initiative to start a news channel in Canada which was perceived as getting preferential treatment by the incumbent Conservative government, his former employer. In news interviews, Teneycke pointed out that a petition operated by the group
Avaaz Avaaz is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization launched in January 2007 that promotes global activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, animal rights, corruption, poverty, and conflict. In 2012, ''The Guardian'' referred to Avaaz as ...
opposing the new channel was being infiltrated by illegitimate signatures, going so far as to send an update about it on Twitter. CBC political blogger
Kady O'Malley Kady O'Malley is a Canadian political journalist, currently a writer for the digital political newspaper ''iPolitics''. Formerly with ''The Hill Times'' and then ''Maclean's'' magazine, she moved to CBC News as author of the "Inside Politics" bl ...
had questioned the source that Teneycke had cited in his ''
Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...
'' article as there was no way of knowing who had actually signed up for the Avaaz petition as the signees were not published. Teneycke then admitted that he had a source who had provided false names to prove a point.Avaaz.org vs. Sun TV vs. Unwitting Hill Journalists: And now you know the rest of the story. (Maybe)
Kady O'Malley, CBC.ca, September 3, 2010
Later in an interview, Avaaz executive director Ricken Patel indicated that the fake signatures that Teneycke had cited were all added from the same IP address at the time when Teneycke had published the ''Sun'' article critical of the petition. Susan Delacourt of the
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
observed "Kory Teneycke seemed to have inside knowledge of the fake names on the petition. Avaaz requested on September 14, 2010, that the
Ottawa Police Service The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is a municipal police force in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OPS serves an area of 2,790 square kilometres and 1,017,449 (2021 census) people alongside several other police ...
and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
begin an investigation to determine the identity of the individual responsible for adding the fraudulent signatures from an Ottawa IP address to the organization's petition dubbed "Stop 'Fox News North'". In his letter to law enforcement on behalf of Avaaz, civil rights lawyer,
Clayton Ruby Clayton Charles Ruby (6 February 1942 – 2 August 2022) was a Canadian lawyer and activist, specializing in constitutional and criminal law and civil rights. Early life and education Ruby was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Marie (Bochner) and ...
, called for a full criminal investigation on the matter.CNW: Avaaz Requests Criminal Investigation into 'Stop Fox News North' Petition Fraud
/ref> No charges were ever filed in relation to Avaaz's complaint.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teneycke, Kory Canadian political consultants University of Ottawa alumni Living people 1974 births People from Regina, Saskatchewan Canadian media executives Communications directors of the Canadian Prime Minister's Office