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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to unveil a suite of policy proposals meant to address the uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a member of his senior staff.
Poilievre will deliver a speech to business leaders at the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto on Thursday that the organization is billing as a “vision for Canada-U.S. relations.”
Katy Merrifield, Poilievre’s head of communications, told CBC News that the speech will include new policy proposals that are intended to be realistic and aimed at restoring Canada’s leverage in an unstable geopolitical environment.
The policies will include an energy and critical mineral strategy and a proposal for a new tariff-free auto pact with the U.S.
Poilievre will also call for new rules that would require companies that shift Canadian intellectual property out of the country to repay taxpayer support they’ve received. And he will call for the formation of an all-party working group ahead of this year’s Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review.
WATCH | U.S. trade representative on Canada’s tariff future:
U.S. trade representative suggests Canada needs to accept ‘higher tariffs’
In interviews with the CBC’s Sylvia Thomson and Katie Simpson, U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer laid out where he sees the status of negotiations with Canada at the moment. Greer suggested Canada should accept some form of tariffs in order to reach a deal with the Trump administration.
Poilievre’s speech comes as the party is facing some headwinds in recent polls. The Angus Reid Institute published a new survey on Tuesday showing the Liberals 13 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives in voting intention — the latest in a series of polls that suggest the Conservatives are falling further behind the governing party.
Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, said the one area where Poilievre has struggled to connect with Canadians is on how to handle the Trump administration.
“Sometimes it’s just tough to break through when you’re the Opposition leader and Poilievre has really struggled to sometimes do and say the things that — in this particular context and in this particular time in Canadian politics — Canadians themselves are looking to their leaders to hear,” Kurl said.
“There’s a real gap and disconnect between how Canadians are feeling towards Washington and Trump and how Poilievre has struggled to respond to that.”
Poilievre is coming off a massive victory at the Conservatives’ annual convention last month, locking up 87 per cent support to stay on as leader.
In his keynote speech at the convention, he pledged to help resolve the “unfair” tariffs that Trump has slapped on Canadian goods.
While former Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney said Poilievre “nailed” his convention speech, he said the Conservative leader could have done more to directly challenge Trump.
