Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says a future Conservative government would pursue a tariff-free auto pact with the United States as part of a plan to revive Canada’s auto sector and double domestic vehicle production.

Poilievre said the plan would restore Canadian vehicle production to two million units a year over the next decade, arguing the industry is critical to jobs and the country’s industrial capacity.

“Canada needs a strong automobile sector, not just because it puts paychecks in pockets and food on the table, but because it is critical to our national security to have an industrial base,” he said during a stop in Windsor, Ont., on Sunday.

The proposal includes removing the GST from Canadian-made vehicles, tying duty-free vehicle sales in Canada to domestic production, and maintaining the requirement that vehicles contain at least 75 per cent North American content under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement.

Poilievre said the approach would encourage automakers to increase manufacturing in Canada by linking sales to production.

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“For every car produced in Canada, the same manufacturer would get to sell a car in Canada duty free from a CUSMA partner on a dollar-for-dollar basis similar to the 1965 Canada–U.S. Auto Pact,” he said.

He argued Canada’s auto sector has declined in recent years, pointing to a drop in vehicle production from more than two million units annually to about 1.2 million.

“The goal is clear. We want to double our production to two million vehicles,” he said.

During the announcement, Poilievre also criticized Prime Minister Mark Carney’s handling of trade tensions with the United States and tariffs affecting the auto industry.

“Where is Mark Carney’s plan? He’s been prime minister now for a year. We still have no idea what his plan is to counter these tariffs. None,” he said.

Poilievre’s pitch comes at a critical time for the Conservative leader. A recent Abacus Data poll conducted between March 4 and 11 suggests the Liberals currently hold an advantage nationally, with 46 per cent support among decided voters compared with 35 per cent for the Conservatives. The poll also found 56 per cent of Canadians approve of the federal government’s performance under Carney.

Poilievre said the Canadian auto sector relies heavily on access to the U.S. market and warned that losing tariff-free trade could have major consequences for manufacturing jobs.

“We will bring our factories roaring back to life,” he said. “Our plants will be humming. Our mills will be stamping more aluminum and steel.”

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, on his first overseas trip as leader of the official opposition, is pitching a new plan to bind Canada closer to the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

The plan that would go beyond existing trade deals each country has with each other to do more to boost defence co-operation and cut regulations that inhibit trade.

Poilievre sketched out his plan for a new partnership at a small reception given Monday night by the Conservative Party of Great Britain at the party’s 194-year-old “home” at the Carlton Club near St. James Palace in central London.

On Tuesday, Poilievre will present the complete plan as he delivers the annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture hosted by the Centre for Policy Studies, a leading centre-right think tank in the U.K.

“The time has come for a new partnership among Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand – a modern CANZUK –  a pact to open our economies further, remove barriers, recognize credentials, expand skilled labour mobility, and deepen capital markets,” Poilievre will say in the lecture.

An excerpt from a draft copy of Tuesday’s speech was provided to Global News.

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Poilievre, according to the draft, will argue that regulatory barriers in the UK are blocking meaningful access to the UK market for Canadian beef producers and ought to be eliminated.

He will say that, should he become prime minister, he would advance policies that would allow for automatic professional recognition for doctors, nurses, engineers and so one so that credentials earned in one country would be accepted by all four.

“If someone can perform heart surgery in Sydney, Australia, they should be able to do so in Sydney, Nova Scotia,” Poilievre is to say.

Similarly, Poilievre will argue that the four countries ought to agree on a “regulatory presumption of equivalence,” the idea that if a product is approved as safe in one country, it should be deemed safe for us in all four countries.

“If a drug or auto part is safe in London, England, it should be safe in London, Ontario,” he will say.

Poilievre’s overseas trip is part of plan by the Conservatives to get Canadian voters to see Poilievre in a different light and hear him proposing different policies, in the hope of reversing some polling data which shows Poilievre and the Conservatives falling further behind Mark Carney and the Liberals.

In the last election,  Poilievre faced criticism that he tended to substitute slogans — “Axe the Tax”, for example — for policy. The sloganeering has now been shelved in favour of keynote speeches chock full with new policy proposals.

In his speech Tuesday night, Poilievre will also repeat ideas he first advanced last week in front of a Bay Street crowd in Toronto, that Canada should create an Energy and Critical Minerals Reserve, controlled by Canada but which would be shared with its allies during times of conflict.

After spending two days in the British capital, Poilievre will travel to Berlin and Hamburg where his office says he will meet with German officials and business leaders. He will also deliver a keynote speech at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation on the Canada-Europe transatlantic relationship.

The cost of Poilievre’s travel is being borne by the Conservative Party of Canada, his office says.

He returns to Canada on Sunday.

David Akin is the chief political correspondent for Global News.

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As Prime Minister Mark Carney gets set for his second circumnavigation of the globe in as many months, his chief political opponent will also head overseas, Global News has learned.

Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre will be in London, England, on Sunday and will then head to the German capital of Berlin, a senior official in Poilievre’s office said late Wednesday.

Details on Poilievre’s itinerary will be released shortly but the source says he is scheduled to give several speeches in addition to meeting with unnamed European officials.

It will be Poilievre’s first official overseas travel as Leader of the Official Opposition and comes while Carney is travelling to India, the first leg of a 10-day trip which will see him touch down in Australia and Japan before returning home.

2:12
How Carney’s travel compares to other Canadian prime ministers

It is rare — but not unprecedented — for an Opposition leader to travel abroad. In 2018, Andrew Scheer, then the Opposition leader but now the Conservative House Leader, travelled to India in the wake of a trip by Justin Trudeau to that country that produced significant controversy.

Scheer spent nine days in India and, at the time, his office said that travel was important and that “a Conservative government will dramatically expand the strategic relationship between our countries and our peoples and advance our shared security, prosperity and values. Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau’s disastrous trip to India damaged this key relationship and we must now work to repair it.”

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Carney’s trip to India will include stops in Mumbai and New Delhi, but Carney’s office is stressing that the visit will be about the Canada-India defence and security relationship.

Carney, like any Canadian prime minister, travels at taxpayers’ expense and usually, though not always, travels on a Royal Canadian Air Force plane.

Poilievre’s trip is not paid for by taxpayers.Poilievre and his staff will travel on commercial aircraft paid for by donations to the Conservative Party of Canada.

Global News has reported that Carney, in his first year, has spent significantly more time on the road than either of his two predecessors, Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper. Within his first week in office, Carney flew to London for meetings with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and, in August, he was in Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Merz, Starmer and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Canada last June to participate in the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta.

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday distanced himself from Jamil Jivani’s claim that Canadians are throwing an “anti-American hissy fit” over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and sovereignty threats, saying the Conservative MP “speaks for himself.”

Jivani travelled to Washington earlier this month to meet with his college friend, Vice President JD Vance, and other Trump administration officials in what he described as an attempt to “build bridges” between Canada and the U.S.

After he returned to Canada, Jivani told U.S. right-wing news site Breitbart that Canadians would be “shooting ourselves in the foot if we continue this anti-America hissy fit” and urged Prime Minister Mark Carney to work with him and the White House on resolving the trade dispute.

Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa he has spoken to Jivani about his trip and subsequent comments.

“My message (to him) is that Canadians are understandably upset about the tariffs and the comments that President Trump has made, and that we need to focus on what we can do here at home,” he said.

“He speaks for himself, and I speak for the party.”

Jivani represents a central Ontario riding that Poilievre acknowledged has been “disproportionately impacted” by Trump’s auto tariffs. The riding includes parts of Oshawa, home to General Motors’ assembly plant that recently cut a shift and laid off some 500 employees — a move expected to affect upward of a thousand workers across the supply chain.

2:25
Carney suggests Poilievre remove his ‘fingers from his ears’ when it comes to Canadian auto workers

GM has signalled intentions to follow automakers like Stellantis and shift its production to the U.S., a key goal of Trump’s tariff policies.

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“I think that it’s necessary for all MPs to use all the connections and work that they can in order to overturn the tariffs and protect Canadian jobs,” Poilievre said. “So I encourage all MPs to fight the tariffs and stand up for Canada.”

Global News reported earlier this month that some member of the Conservative caucus were upset with what they viewed as Jivani’s “freelance” diplomacy with the Trump administration.

It’s also not clear if Jivani’s trip was sanctioned by Poilievre’s office, which has not responded to questions about his U.S. travels.

Jivani is not the party’s “shadow minister” for foreign affairs, international trade or Canada-U.S. trade.

Jivani said earlier this month he had “productive” meetings with Trump’s administration. He said on social media that he met with representatives of the White House and U.S. State Department and that the president asked him to pass along a message — to tell Canadians he loves them.

In a video posted to social media, Jivani said he expects criticism from “frothing, elbow-waving anti-American activists” but he thinks Canadians want someone willing to “cut through all the posturing” to deliver results.

He later described his meetings with American officials and lawmakers as “very productive, promising and positive.”

“I’m feeling hopeful and optimistic that we can get something really good done for Canadian workers and businesses,” he said. “Might take some time, but I really believe that the doors are open here.”

That later video came days before Trump threatened to block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Ontario and Michigan in a social media post that complained about Canada treating the U.S. unfairly on trade and other issues.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters Tuesday he was happy to see Jivani go to the U.S. but that he disagreed with his recent comments.

“I don’t call it a hissy fit,” Ford said. “What I call (it) is making sure that we communicate with the American people.

“No one would even know who Jamil Jivani was unless I hired the guy in my office,” Ford added, referring to the fact that Jivani once worked as an adviser to his government. “I didn’t know him from a hole in the ground.”

—with files from Global’s Alex Boutilier and the Canadian Press

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The Opposition Conservatives are calling on the federal Liberal government to reduce taxes on severance packages for laid-off General Motors workers in Ingersoll, Ont.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre penned a letter Sunday, co-signed by labour critic Kyle Seeback and local MP Arpan Khanna, addressed to Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne calling for an exemption to the withholding taxes that ding severance pay.

In a draft version of the letter seen by The Canadian Press, the Conservatives argue taxes on a big chunk of GM’s lump-sum severance payments could deprive out-of-work employees of “tens of thousands of dollars,” adding “insult to injury.”

The federal Tories said waiting until after tax season to recover funds is not a reasonable solution for workers who recently lost their regular paycheques and still need money for their mortgages and grocery bills.

“These men and women worked hard, played by the rules and built things this country depends on. The least your government can do is stop taking their money at the worst possible moment,” the letter said.

“That is why I am asking you to use your existing authority to reduce the amount of tax withheld on these payments for workers affected by the GM CAMI layoffs.”

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The letter comes just ahead of the start of tax-filing season and days after Carney unveiled his new strategy for the automotive sector.

GM announced last year it would end its BrightDrop electric-vehicle production at the CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, citing weaker-than-expected market demand and a challenging regulatory environment in the U.S.

More than a thousand employees have been laid off.

3:35
Canada and Korea sign MOU on auto manufacturing

Meanwhile, GM’s Oshawa Assembly is shuttering one of three shifts, laying off some 500 employees in a move expected to affect upward of a thousand workers across the supply chain.

Unifor, the union representing the GM employees, has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of upending Ontario’s auto sector and hitting the Ingersoll GM plant on multiple fronts. Trump introduced 25 per cent tariffs on non-U.S. auto content and policies that upended the U.S. EV industry.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new automotive industrial strategy last Thursday, which he vowed would “drive investment” in the sector and set a “sovereign path” to reduce auto emissions.

The strategy would remove the EV sales mandate in exchange for stricter auto-emissions standards and re-introduce the EV rebate program.

It comes on the heels of a deal the prime minister made in Beijing, granting a set quota of Chinese EVs into the country at a minimal tariff rate. Carney has also said Ottawa has been in talks with Korean and Chinese investors interested in Canada’s auto sector.

The Conservatives dismissed Carney’s new auto strategy in their letter for being unhelpful to auto-sector workers who have been left reeling as their industry buckles.

“Canadians are still waiting for your government to deliver the trade deal with the United States you promised by July 21 (2025) and a clear plan to protect Canadian jobs,” the Conservative MPs wrote.

“Instead of presenting a serious plan to defend our auto workers, you’ve just announced a rebate that will subsidize American-made EVs.”

Canada is entering into talks this year over renewing the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, as the free-trade pact comes up for review among the signatories.

Carney said Thursday his objective remains getting all tariffs removed, but that is clearly not Trump’s objective, so Canada must “prepare for all possibilities.”

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Jamil Jivani’s solo mission to Washington has provoked confusion and consternation among some of his Conservative colleagues who want to avoid the party looking cozy with Donald Trump’s administration.

Jivani, a friend of U.S. Vice-President JD Vance since they attended  Yale Law School together, paid a visit to Vance’s office in what he described as an attempt to “build bridges” between Canada and the United States.

The MP’s office has not responded to repeated interview requests or a request for a list of whom he met with. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office has also not responded to questions about Jivani’s trip.

Two Conservative sources told Global News Friday that some within caucus are upset with what they view as Jivani’s “freelance” diplomacy with the Trump administration.

“There’s no doubt people are trying to figure out why the separate set of rules [for Jivani] and why the freelancing, is this good for us?” one source, who agreed to speak about caucus dynamics on the condition they not be named, said in an interview.

It’s also not clear if Jivani’s trip was sanctioned by Poilievre’s office.

Jivani is not the party’s “shadow minister” for foreign affairs, international trade or Canada-U.S. trade. The party’s Canada-U.S. trade critic, Shelby Kramp-Neuman, also appeared to have recently visited Washington based on social media posts.

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Highlighting ties to the Trump administration is a dangerous play for Canada’s Conservatives, given how deeply unpopular the U.S. president is with Canadian voters.

Data released by pollster Angus Reid last week found that 66 per cent of Canadians gave Trump an ‘F’ grade on his first year of the second term, while just 15 per cent graded him either an ‘A’ or ‘B.’

Further complicating matters for the Conservatives is that 50 per cent of their voters, according to Angus Reid, gave Trump a ‘C’ grade or better. So a strong majority of Canadian voters dislike Trump, but a significant portion of Conservative voters have a more positive view of the U.S. president.

In an interview with the American news outlet Semafor, Jivani said part of the reason for his trip is to tell the Trump administration “we’re all on the same team.”

“I think there’s a real opportunity to build something with the U.S. administration,” Jivani told the outlet.

“Maybe, in re-establishing that special relationship [between Canada and the U.S.], we could get to a point where the tariff regime imposed on us looks very different from that imposed on other countries.”

In a social media post Wednesday, Jivani said he had “productive meetings” with the White House and State Department – and told Semafor that he met with both his friend Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He also said Trump asked him to “pass along a message” that he loves Canadians.

“I gotta tell you I’m feeling hopeful and optimistic that we can get something really good done for Canadians workers and businesses,” Jivani said in a video posted to his social media accounts.

It’s not clear who the “we” in that statement signifies, but Jivani – first elected in 2024 – said he’s “sick” of the politics surrounding the Canada-U.S. relationship and has attempted to reach out to the Liberal government about his bridge-building efforts.

His professed multi-partisan ambitions are apparently shared by Poilievre, who told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney this week that his party was willing to co-operate with the Liberals to fight against Trump’s unilateral trade war.

“My message [to Carney] is Conservatives are here to work with the prime minister and with the government to knock down these unjust tariffs and fight for our workers, fight for their jobs, and fight for our economic independence,” Poilievre said.

Roland Paris, the director of the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, told Global News that he doesn’t see a danger in Canadian politicians having meetings in Ottawa.

“But that’s within limits,” Paris said in an interview.

“Because I think that everybody, every Canadian, expects that Canadian political leaders will be operating in the Canadian interest. And so, in principle, I don’t think that there’s a problem with these trips [but] it really depends on what is actually said and what commitments are made.”

— with files from Global’s Jillian Piper and David Akin

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