Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has responded to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent speech at the World Economic Forum, highlighting the need for strong continued U.S.-Canada trade ties and criticizing Ottawa’s deepening relationship with Beijing, while saying urgent policy changes are needed at home.
While praising Carney’s “eloquently delivered” remarks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20, Poilievre said in a Jan. 22 statement that the Liberal government should change its policies and legislation in order to achieve more prosperity and security for Canada.
“We need to do things, not just say them,” Poilievre said.
The Tory leader called for rapidly greenlighting an oil pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast, growing and improving the Canadian Armed Forces, and repealing several federal laws that he said hold up resource development and hamper Canada’s exports.
“So far, Mr. Carney has been lucky that he’s been judged by his rhetoric and his stated intentions, by the number of his trips and meetings overseas. Because nearly a year into his term, the rhetoric has changed, but reality has not,” Poilievre said. “There is an illusion of purpose, but no results to back it up.”
Alberta is drafting an oil pipeline proposal for Ottawa’s Major Projects Office that the province says will be submitted by June, and has urged Carney to approve it by the fall. Alberta and Ottawa recently signed an agreement to approve a new pipeline from the province to B.C. should a private proponent come forward, in exchange for Alberta increasing its industrial carbon tax and reducing methane emissions.
Carney’s Speech
In his Davos speech, the prime minister said a “rupture” in the rules-based international order is being caused by a “system of intensifying great power rivalry.” Carney said that these dominant powers exempt themselves from the rules of the international order when it is in their interest and pressure other countries into economic integration in order to gain an advantage. Carney did not directly name the “great powers” or distinguish between them.
Carney said this geopolitical and economic reality requires Canada to become more self-reliant, while also seeking out other middle powers to form new alliances with. He referenced the late Czech president and anti-communist activist Václav Havel, who wrote that the previous communist regime in his country was maintained from the ground up by small rituals such as a shopkeeper displaying a sign in the window supporting the system out of conformity, despite not believing in it.
“This fiction was useful, and American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security and support for frameworks for resolving disputes,” Carney said. “So, we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works.”
Carney’s remarks in Davos came following a Jan. 18 trip to Qatar where the two countries agreed to boost ties on trade, defence, investment, aerospace, artificial intelligence, and agriculture.
Prior to Qatar, Carney travelled to China from Jan. 13 to 17, meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Carney subsequently announced Ottawa would slash 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) to 6.1 percent on up to 49,000 vehicles per year, in return for Beijing removing its tariffs on various Canadian agricultural products until at least the end of the year. During the trip, Carney also said he is seeking a “strategic partnership” with Beijing, and that the work the two have down towards that has “sets us up well for the new world order.”
Poilievre also said Carney’s reference to Havel was ironic, given that Havel was an opponent of “totalitarian communism” and Carney only days earlier had announced his plan to establish deeper ties with the Chinese regime.
“It was with irony that the Prime Minister quoted Vaclav Havel, one of the great heroes of the 20th century fight against totalitarian communism, less than a week after launching a ‘strategic partnership for a new world order’ with the Chinese communist regime,” Poilievre said.
“We cannot throw caution to the wind with a regime that kidnaps our citizens, steals our technology, interferes with our elections, sets up illegal police stations on Canadian soil and has a history of using trade as a tool of diplomatic warfare against us.”
Threats
Poilievre has said Canada needs to be more focused on and prepared for security threats from countries such as China, Russia, and Iran, including calling for the Liberals to immediately deport senior figures of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from Canada and increasing sanctions on the regime in Tehran.
The Tory leader has said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a grave security threat to Canada and needs to be kept at arm’s length from any trade, investment, or critical-infrastructure decisions, adding that Canada should reduce its economic dependence on China and block CCP-linked firms from gaining access to sensitive technology, supply chains, or strategic assets.
Poilievre has also raised particular concerns about Chinese EVs potentially being used for espionage or surveillance activity.
Instead of turning toward closer ties with China, Poilievre’s Jan. 22 response emphasized his belief in the need to face the reality of Canada’s interdependence with the United States. While Poilievre said he understands it’s “tempting” for some Canadians to want to cut ties with the United States during current economic tensions, he said it’s just not economically realistic.
“I know it’s tempting to say our relationship with America is over forever. But here is the reality: We still live next door to the biggest economy and military the world has ever seen. We sell 20 times more to the U.S. than to China. 1 in 10 Canadian jobs rely directly and indirectly on trade with America,” Poilievre wrote, adding that while growing and diversifying trade was the right move, remembering the enduring nature of the U.S.-Canada trade relationship is essential.
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