Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, on his first overseas trip as leader of the official opposition, is pitching a new plan to bind Canada closer to the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
The plan that would go beyond existing trade deals each country has with each other to do more to boost defence co-operation and cut regulations that inhibit trade.
Poilievre sketched out his plan for a new partnership at a small reception given Monday night by the Conservative Party of Great Britain at the party’s 194-year-old “home” at the Carlton Club near St. James Palace in central London.
On Tuesday, Poilievre will present the complete plan as he delivers the annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture hosted by the Centre for Policy Studies, a leading centre-right think tank in the U.K.
“The time has come for a new partnership among Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand – a modern CANZUK – a pact to open our economies further, remove barriers, recognize credentials, expand skilled labour mobility, and deepen capital markets,” Poilievre will say in the lecture.
An excerpt from a draft copy of Tuesday’s speech was provided to Global News.
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Poilievre, according to the draft, will argue that regulatory barriers in the UK are blocking meaningful access to the UK market for Canadian beef producers and ought to be eliminated.
He will say that, should he become prime minister, he would advance policies that would allow for automatic professional recognition for doctors, nurses, engineers and so one so that credentials earned in one country would be accepted by all four.
“If someone can perform heart surgery in Sydney, Australia, they should be able to do so in Sydney, Nova Scotia,” Poilievre is to say.
Similarly, Poilievre will argue that the four countries ought to agree on a “regulatory presumption of equivalence,” the idea that if a product is approved as safe in one country, it should be deemed safe for us in all four countries.
“If a drug or auto part is safe in London, England, it should be safe in London, Ontario,” he will say.
Poilievre’s overseas trip is part of plan by the Conservatives to get Canadian voters to see Poilievre in a different light and hear him proposing different policies, in the hope of reversing some polling data which shows Poilievre and the Conservatives falling further behind Mark Carney and the Liberals.
In the last election, Poilievre faced criticism that he tended to substitute slogans — “Axe the Tax”, for example — for policy. The sloganeering has now been shelved in favour of keynote speeches chock full with new policy proposals.
In his speech Tuesday night, Poilievre will also repeat ideas he first advanced last week in front of a Bay Street crowd in Toronto, that Canada should create an Energy and Critical Minerals Reserve, controlled by Canada but which would be shared with its allies during times of conflict.
After spending two days in the British capital, Poilievre will travel to Berlin and Hamburg where his office says he will meet with German officials and business leaders. He will also deliver a keynote speech at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation on the Canada-Europe transatlantic relationship.
The cost of Poilievre’s travel is being borne by the Conservative Party of Canada, his office says.
He returns to Canada on Sunday.
David Akin is the chief political correspondent for Global News.
Yeah, Carney is already doing this kinda stuff dude…nice try though. Just let Carney continue doing a good job for Canada and support him in that process. Stop playing politics that are not in Canada’s best interest at this time!
Ur not the prime minister stay in your lane! Ps tha trade “deal” was lame. PP can’t give one single fleshed out plan to Canadians while here in the country he’s so unpopular he’s literally whipping his ideas globally like a coward.
Why is he there . Mark Carney has already sorted it out . Stop wasting our money PP.
Poilievre is a complete embarrassment to Canada. What the heck does he think PM Carney is doing??
Pierre makes a lot more sense than that other liberal weasel.
So, exactly what PMMC has already done? What a waste of time and money.
Canada with both a pacific and Atlantic ocean coast and for shipping and a common language and laws would benefit from a trade and defense pact such as this and as a foil against American pressure ala Trump.
Note to Europe and beyond: You can keep PP now! Our FREE Gift to you, enjoy!
Even in another country, he still can’t get a seat at the adult table.
Maybe he can pitch his workout video he made with his personal trainer.
..oh look. Like trump PP is pretending his is a ‘statesman’ despite not even getting a security clearance. Think for yourselves folks..
Meh, most of us know our media only polls liberal ridings.