Conservative Leader Poilievre to Travel to UK and Germany

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will be making his first trip abroad as party leader next week, with plans to meet with politicians and businesspeople in the United Kingdom and Germany.

According to the Conservative Party, Poilievre’s week-long trip will involve reinforcing Canada’s “existing trade, commerce and diplomatic relationships.” He will also deliver three keynote addresses and “promote Canada to leading thought leaders and stakeholders in London and Berlin.”

The itinerary published Feb. 27 states that Poilievre will meet with British MPs and members of the business community in London on March 2 and 3. He will also attend a reception for CANZUK International, an organization that promotes closer ties on trade, migration, and foreign policy between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.

Poilievre will end his trip to London by delivering the Margaret Thatcher Lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies on March 3, before heading to Berlin on March 4 to give a keynote speech on the transatlantic relationship at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which is associated with the governing Christian Democratic Union.

The Tory leader will then have meetings with German officials and business leaders the next day, visit the port of Hamburg on March 6, and visit a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility at the Jade-Wesser port on the North Sea coast on March 7. Poilievre has previously spoken about how the LNG facility was built in just 194 days, and has cited it as an example of how Canada should speed up the building of major projects.

Poilievre will leave Berlin and return to Canada on March 8. The press release noted that the trip will be “paid for entirely” by the Conservative Party.

The prime minister will be travelling at the same time as Poilievre. Mark Carney will be making stops in India, Japan, and Australia in a bid to help Canada diversify its trade relationships and attract new investment opportunities, before returning to Canada on March 7.

The announcement about Poilievre’s trip comes a day after Poilievre made a speech at the Economic Club of Canada, where he outlined his vision for negotiating a better trade relationship with the United States.