Heritage Foundation Chief Cancels Talk With Carney’s Cabinet on US Conservative Agenda

A prominent American conservative has called off a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet that was scheduled for Sept. 4. Neither party has publicly provided a reason for the cancellation.

U.S. political strategist Kevin Roberts was set to brief Carney’s cabinet in a closed door meeting to offer insight on the Trump administration’s agenda and core principles but the Prime Minister’s Office announced to media on Sept. 4 that Roberts was cancelling his Canada trip.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Roberts was invited to speak with cabinet because it’s important for Canada’s government to hear a variety of voices. Roberts is the president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative political think tank.

“When you have sessions you want to hear a different perspective,” Champagne said Sept. 4 prior to the cabinet meeting in the Greater Toronto Area, adding, “I think that you gain from having different perspective[s].” 

He said discussions would continue during the two-day Liberal government summit without Roberts, and would concentrate on the budget, economy, and housing.

The PMO said it plans to stay in touch with Roberts and “other leading U.S. policy figures” going forward. The cabinet is still set to meet with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who now serves as Australia’s ambassador to the United States, to discuss current geopolitical realities and the rise of China. Cabinet is also meeting with a leading Canadian pollster, an economist, and private sector entrepreneurs.

The Heritage Foundation is one of the largest conservative think tanks in the United States, and has said its policies have been adopted by the Trump administration. 

In announcing Roberts’s scheduled meeting with cabinet, several media reports in Canada headlined the Heritage Foundation’s leading of the Project 2025, a plan to reduce government bureaucracy, strengthen U.S. independence and borders, prioritize the family as the centre of the nation, and bolster individual freedoms. The plan was developed in 2022 before Trump was reelected for a second term in office.

During the presidential election campaign last year, a key message of the campaign of Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris was that Trump will be following Project 2025, while Trump said he wasn’t adopting the plan, saying on social media that he “knows nothing” about it.

Trade Negotiations With US Continue

Prior to the cabinet retreat, which began Sept. 3, Carney said he had a “good” call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 1 and expects “small agreements” going forward. Trump applied a 35 percent baseline tariff on Canadian goods that weren’t covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Aug. 1. 

Carney subsequently announced that Canada would lift retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion of U.S. exports, a decision which went into effect Sept. 1.

Sectoral tariffs on copper, steel, aluminum, and automobiles still remain, with Carney saying that his priority is the removal of these tariffs. A meeting between Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took place last week. LeBlanc has described the talks as “constructive.” 

Carney said earlier this week that Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia, former CEO of Hydro-Québec and deputy minister of finance in the Trudeau government, will lead Canada’s negotiating team in Washington.