Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Canada needs to position itself in a way that ensures U.S. President Donald Trump understands America can only win through open, unbridled free trade with Canada.
“President Trump is a deal maker. He wants to win, but we’re both going to lose as Americans and Canadians if we get into a trade war,” Poilievre said in an interview with CTV News Atlantic on Jan. 24.
The Tory leader was asked by anchor Todd Battis what he would do in response to Trump’s tariff threat if he was elected as Canada’s prime minister. Poilievre said there are three elements to his response.
First, he said that Canada needs a “surgical” response to the tariffs, hitting them where the impact would be most felt by the Americans.
“I would target [U.S.] products and services that, a) we don’t need, b) we can make ourselves, and c) that we can buy elsewhere, so that we maximize impact on the Americans while minimizing the impact on Canadians,” Poilievre said.
“We have to be very pinpoint and surgical.”
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Second, the Conservative leader said Canada needs to more self-sufficiency, particularly in terms of trade. He suggested “knocking down” barriers to increase interprovincial trade and reduce reliance on American markets.
“We have freer trade with the Americans today than we do with ourselves,” Poilievre said. “We have to knock down those barriers, build pipelines, LNG, liquefaction facilities, to sell our stuff to the world without having to go through the Americans.”
Third, Canada needs to slash tax rates across different domains in order to boost the country’s economy, the official Opposition leader said. “I would pass an emergency Bring It Home Tax Cut on work, investment, making stuff in Canada, energy, home building, so that we can stimulate more economic growth here.”
Trump touted a similar idea regarding taxes while speaking at a press conference in North Carolina on the same day. “I would love to see Canada be the 51st state,” the president said. “The Canadian citizens, if that happened, would get a very big tax cut—a tremendous tax cut—because they are very highly taxed.”
Poilievre says a “big tax cut” would make it more affordable to Canadian taxpayers.
East-West Pipeline
Since his election, Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian imports if the country does not take adequate steps to improve border security and stop the flow of illegal drugs, particularly fentanyl, and illegal immigrants into the United States.
During his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump told reporters he could impose tariffs on Canada starting Feb.1.
Reacting to Trump’s update, the Liberal government responded with a $1.3 billion investment to boost border security and said it is “working on retaliation” and “a long-term response.”
Poilievre’s comments on making Canada more self-reliant aligns with those of Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, who said at a press conference on Jan. 23 that Canada needs to take advantage of its natural resources through initiatives like the Energy East pipeline project, which was cancelled in 2017. The project was a 4,500-kilometre pipeline proposed to carry 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada.
“If we needed more urgency to strengthen our country, we got it, right?” Houston said. “The United States is a huge market, and it’s been a convenient customer, but now is the time to … look for diversification, not only across our country, but around the world.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith seconded Houston’s proposal. She posted a clip of Houston’s comments to her social media account on platform X on Jan. 23, expressing her support.
Poilievre said in the Jan. 24 interview that he “would strongly support an East-West pipeline,” though he noted, “that particular project probably won’t be resuscitated.”
“But the idea of selling Western [Canada’s] oil to Eastern [Canada’s] refineries is impeccable,” he said. “The alternative is that we continue to sell at a discount in the West and buy at a premium in the East and lose money millions of times every single day. It’s economic suicide and stupidity.”
Poilievre said he would speed up the approval process for resource projects and repeal the Liberals’ Bill C-69, now known as the Impact Assessment Act of 2019, which allows the federal government to impose environmental assessments on resource and infrastructure projects such as pipelines and mine development.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against the legislation, saying it is “largely unconstitutional,” following Alberta’s challenge to its constitutionality. The federal government responded that it would make amendments to the act while noting the court has upheld Ottawa’s right to conduct environmental impact assessments.
Poilievre says the legislation is “designed to block projects from proceeding,” adding that it is preventing investment in Canada, as “businesses don’t put their money here.”
“We will repeal C-69,” he said. “My goal is to have the fastest permits for mines anywhere in the developed world.”
Jennifer Cowan, Noé Chartier, and Omid Ghoreishi contributed to this report.
