Poilievre says he won’t ‘divide Canada’s voice’ by reaching out to U.S.

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Toronto – Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday he had no contact with anyone in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to ensure he “does not split Canada’s voice.”

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Poilievre spoke to a group of people in the Bay Street Tower in downtown Toronto, including Conservative MPs and strategists, as well as business and industry stakeholders.

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The audience represents the change of Poilievre, who devotes himself to voters and is the candidate who is most focused on the struggle for daily living costs. He appealed directly to workers and working-class members, including “boots do not litigate.”

He was introduced by Ontario during his speech Wednesday French Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney evoked the legacy of her late father and former progressive conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who said he was an early supporter of Poilievre when he first entered Parliament as a member of Congress at the age of 24.

Poilievre in his speech, in view of negotiations on a free trade agreement with Canada, the United States and Mexico in the late 1980s.

“Boy, I wish I could pick up the phone now and ask for his advice,” Poilievre said.

But one area where Poilievre chose not to follow Mulroney’s footsteps was when he established relations with the White House before he took power.

While still serving as the opposition leader before the 1984 election, Mulroney went to Washington to meet at the then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

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However, Poilievre did not follow suit.

“I work hard with the rule of one prime minister at a time,” Poilievre told reporters after his speech.

Although he disagrees with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Liberal leader Mark Carney, a liberalist who was loyal to the party’s successor last month, Poilievre said he was “very careful not to do anything to split Canadian voices when communicating with the U.S. government administration”.

“That’s why I didn’t contact anyone in the U.S. executive administration,” he said.

“I’m doing my homework and have a plan already.”

Poilievre did not answer any questions about whether he hired Givani to have a personal friendship with Vice President JD Vance, his candidate and incumbent in Durham, spoke with the Trump administration.

Vance and Givanni attended Yale Law School together. Since Trump’s successful election last November, Jivani has traveled to Washington to meet Vance several times, including attending the inauguration ceremony in January.

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Poilievre delivered most of his speech on Wednesday, outlining plans for how he browsed in Canadian-U.S. relations.

Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum entering the U.S., including retaliation from Canada, which has retaliated.

The current trade war and Trump’s comments on Canadian annexation have dominated the federal election campaign and increased voter anxiety. Both Poilievre and Carney have been selling themselves because they are best for Trump’s leaders.

Voters will take the poll on April 28.

With the second week of the game, Poilievre largely stuck with his affordability message, challenged calls for more focus on Trump, who came from some of his own party, and ultimately Ontario progressive conservative strategist Kory Teneycke, who recently won his third place at DORG DOUG FORD, Ontario.

Poilievre spent Wednesday on the policies he said he would promote Canada’s economy, such as building pipelines, speed up approval of other major energy projects, and launch loan programs for businesses caused by U.S. tariffs in the face of an increasingly unreliable trading partner.

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Once he told the crowd: “Resume is not a plan.” – Canada and the United Kingdom.

The liberal leader has largely focused his campaign on having the personal background necessary to deal with Trump.

Poilievre promised in his speech that if he becomes prime minister this month, his first order is to tell Trump that he is ready to start negotiations on the Canadian United States-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (CUSMA).

“Anyway, Kusma must be renegotiated next year. Why wait? Why not finish it now? Why not end the uncertainty of the paralysis of both sides of the border and also lose our work today?” Poilievre said.

Canada’s free trade agreement signed with the United States and Mexico, which will be renegotiated over Trump’s request during Trump’s term, which will be reviewed in 2026.

Poilievre said part of his proposal to Trump would allow the two countries to suspend tariffs while renegotiating the deal.

Although Carney didn’t mention the deal in detail, he noted that the partnership needs to be reset after last week’s first conference call with Trump.

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“We will have a comprehensive discussion of the broader economic partnership after the federal election. But this is the beginning of negotiations,” he said.

“We will see how the U.S. performs on the second day of April,” referring to the U.S. anticipated mutual tariff plans, which Trump calls “Liberation Day.”

New Democratic leader Jagmeet Singh, speaking on his campaign, rejected poilievre’s advice on Kusma, saying Trump could not believe it was not violating another agreement because federal leaders said the president had beaten Canada through tariffs and threatened more.

“If we get stuck in this agreement, what is the guarantee that he will follow the next one? I think it’s a very bad precedent… It’s a bad negotiation precedent.

“How do we trust someone to negotiate and sign an agreement and then send a preemptive statement without any provocation, they will only tear it unilaterally?” Singh said.

State Post, document from Catherine Lévesque

staylor@postmedia.com

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