Poilievre calls Carney’s Davos speech ‘well-crafted,’ but says action must follow

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre offered some rare praise for the prime minister’s speech in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this week, calling it “well-crafted and eloquently delivered” — but in a six-page statement released Thursday, he also criticized Mark Carney’s record on reducing Canada’s reliance on the United States.

Poilievre said Carney is right to restate that Canada must become more self-reliant, less dependent and work with like-minded countries, adding that Conservatives are “as always” willing to work with the prime minister to “turn these words into results.”

The statement marks a shift in tone from the Conservative leader, who has been criticized for his sometimes harsh rhetoric toward opponents. But his response included plenty of barbs, too. 

“If Liberal words and good intentions were tradable commodities, Canada would already be the richest nation on earth,” Poilievre wrote. “Unfortunately, after a decade of promises and grand speeches, Liberals have made our economy more costly and dependent than ever before.”

Carney’s Davos speech has earned international praise for his frank assessment of the current world order, and his call for middle powers to band together in the face of great powers using “economic integration as weapons.”

Though the speech didn’t mention the U.S. by name, the implication was clear. That prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to lash out the next day, saying: “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

Poilievre has held a skeptical view of the World Economic Forum, promising to ban ministers of a Conservative government from attending and claiming Liberals use it to “give lectures on their radical woke agenda”— a contrast the Liberals highlighted following Carney’s acclaimed speech.

A senior Conservative source said Poilievre took two days to carefully parse the Davos speech before responding. 

‘Conservatives stand ready to help’

In his response, Poilievre acknowledged that “no one can control what President Trump does or says,” but said the reality is that Canada still lives next door to the largest economy and military on earth — and that while diversifying trade is essential, Canada’s security and trade relationship with the U.S. will outlast one president. 

He said one in 10 Canadian jobs relies both directly and indirectly on trade with the United States, and that the federal government must fight for those jobs to continue to exist. 

“I restate again my offer to the Prime Minister that Conservatives stand ready to help his government fight U.S. tariffs,” Poilievre said. 

Conservative MP Jamil Jivani has also said he would be willing to help relaunch trade talks by talking to his longtime friend, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance. 

But Poilievre cautioned against deepening a relationship with “hostile” powers including China.

Last week, Carney struck a trade deal with China to ease some tariffs on Canadian goods including canola. In exchange, Canada will allow 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the market at a reduced tariff rate of 6.1 per cent.  

Carney has defended the decision to announce a new Canada-China strategic partnership, saying “we take the world as it is, not how we wish it to be.”

Carney has also said Canada is “calibrating … relationships so their depth reflects our values.”

“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,” wrote Poilievre.

Conservative proposals on sovereignty, Arctic security

When the House of Commons reconvenes next week, Poilievre said he will introduce a motion to pass his plan, which he calls the Sovereignty Act. He says it will make Canada more affordable, self-reliant and sovereign. 

It includes proposals to end capital gains tax on reinvestment in Canada, and repeal anti-pipeline laws to spur faster approval of pipelines to the West Coast toward Asia.

“There are hundreds of billions of private dollars looking to invest in wildly profitable projects like a pipeline to the Pacific,” Poilievre wrote. “We have the resources under our feet. The only thing missing is permits; federal permits from Carney’s government.”

Carney has promised to build new infrastructure and homes “at a pace not seen since the Second World War,” and his government — with the Conservatives’ support — passed a bill that would grant the federal government extraordinary new powers to bypass provisions of the federal laws to build major projects faster. 

But the Conservatives have been critical that most of the initiatives referred to the new major projects office were already well underway, saying the better approach would be to remove the Trudeau-era regulations preventing development altogether.

“There is no magic involved in this. What we need is for the Carney government to get out of the way and approve these privately-funded projects,” Poilievre wrote. 

Poilievre also reintroduced some of his election campaign ideas surrounding fixing the recruiting crisis in the Canadian Armed Forces, including re-establishing a permanent Canadian military presence in the Arctic, doubling the Canadian Rangers and fast-tracking upgrades to submarines, helicopters and Northern support hubs.