‘Work with us,’ Poilievre says he told Carney in meeting

Days after he survived a review of his leadership, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre met Prime Minister Mark Carney for a discussion on the state of the Canadian economy.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not provide a readout of the meeting. Prior to it, though, a government source speaking on background had told Global News that Carney planned to raise several measures from the Budget Implementation Act, including funding for dental care and childcare.

He also planned to raise the government’s legislation to toughen bail and sentencing as well as legislation to protect places of worship from threats of violence and hate, the source said, noting that Carney had invited Poilievre to meet a couple of weeks ago.

“My message to him is to work with us. Work with us to fast-track results for an affordable, safe, self-reliant Canada,” Poilievre told reporters after his meeting with Carney in Ottawa on Wednesday.

“We’ve got concrete proposals, and we have a track record of showing that we’re willing to work together.”

Members of the Conservative Party of Canada overwhelmingly voted last week to keep Poilievre on as their leader at its annual convention in Calgary, with more than 87 per cent of voting members casting their ballot for Poilievre to stay.

Poilievre, while criticizing Carney for not being able to secure a new trade deal with the United States, added that his party would work with the federal Liberals.

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“Mr. Carney had promised that he would get us a deal by last July. My message to him today is Conservatives are here to work with the prime minister and with the government to get to knock down these unjust tariffs and fight for our workers, fight for their jobs, and fight our economic independence,” he said.

He added Canada needed to be “self-reliant” to be able to “negotiate from a position of strength” with U.S. President Donald Trump.

This includes building an oil pipeline from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia.

“We need to rapidly approve a pipeline to the Pacific. That means not announcements or meaningless memorandums, but a permit to get it in the ground,” he said.

The meeting came as Conservative MP Jamil Jivani’s mission to Washington met with some skepticism Wednesday, after he said he wanted to help Carney negotiate a trade deal with the United States.

When asked about the Bowmanville-Oshawa North MP’s trip to the U.S. capital to meet with political and business figures, Carney pointed out that Jivani is neither the minister for international trade nor the Conservative trade critic.

Carney said Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc did brief Jivani before his departure.

Jivani is a longtime friend of U.S. Vice-President JD Vance.

In a video posted to social media Tuesday, the MP said he has “something to offer to help build bridges of communication between our two countries.”

–with files from Global News’ Bryan Mullan and The Canadian Press.