Poilievre Says Election Not Necessary, Parties Should Work Together

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto on Feb. 26, 2026. The Canadian Press/Chris Young

Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre says it’s not necessary to hold an election to gauge Canadians’ support for his policies versus those of Prime Minister Mark Carney, suggesting that the Liberals and Conservatives should instead focus on working together.

Poilievre made the comments during an interview with retired Canadian news anchor Peter Mansbridge last week.

The interview followed Poilievre’s Feb. 26 speech at the Economic Club of Canada, where he touted the strengthening of the domestic economy and the expansion of resource development to gain greater leverage globally, including with the United States.

Mansbridge noted that in his speech, Poilievre presented a different vision for Canada’s path forward in negotiations with the United States than the one Carney has described. He asked Poilievre whether there should be a new federal election to determine whose vision Canadians agree with ahead of the upcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Poilievre said he doesn’t think it is necessary to hold an election, but that instead “we should work together as parties.”

“That’s why I’ve made the offer to Mr. Carney that we should set up an all party committee that would create a unified effort on behalf of the whole country to fight for Canada in the United States and in any other market,” Poilievre said.

“I think that being united will be a real force going forward.”

He noted that while the different parties have disagreements, he thinks all parties agree that Canadians want tariff-free access to the United States, as well as the “sacrosanct nature” of Canadian sovereignty. He said the disagreement at the moment centres around how to accomplish this.

The Conservatives have been trailing the Liberals in the polls since the 2025 election and the gap has been increasing in recent weeks. Coming back from the House of Commons holiday break, the Tories said they were looking to cooperate with the Liberals on key issues like affordability and public safety.

The Conservatives had already collaborated with the Liberals in certain areas, such as in expediting the passage of Bill C-5 on major projects, Poilievre noted. More recently, the Tories supported the government’s budget bill in the House of Commons after the Liberals accepted Conservative amendments on the bill.

Poilievre said in his Feb. 26 speech that his party is willing to work together with the Liberal government in the best interests of Canada, ahead of the review of the USMCA in July.

He said his party is not “supporting the Liberals,” but will support policies that are “good for the country” and will oppose those that are “bad for the country.”

Leverage in USMCA Negotiations

Poilievre said that one key difference between his vision for Canada-U.S. relations and Carney’s is his belief that Canada must be “stronger at home so that we have leverage abroad,” a message he emphasized in his Feb. 26 speech.

The Tory leader told Mansbridge that Canada is the United States’ second-largest customer, it represents the biggest share of airspace in the Western hemisphere, and has 10 of the 20 NATO-defined critical minerals that would be necessary in war. He also said Canada has the fourth-largest supply of energy and the capacity to rebuild its military to the “mutual prosperity” of both Canada and the United States.

Poilievre said this can be used as leverage by repealing all “anti-development laws” and setting up a strategic mineral and energy reserve that the United States would have access to, depending on whether it provides Canada with tariff-free trade.

Additionally, he said Canada can leverage its intent to spend “hundreds of billions of dollars” on armaments and military technology over the next several decades, saying the amount spent in the United States would be contingent on tariff-free access to the country.

He also said Canada needs to sell its oil, gas, and other resources overseas so that Canada is “no longer a captive supplier to the Americans.”

“All those things will give us a leverage, and I would use that leverage to negotiate my singular objective, which is that we have tariff-free access to the States, while remaining a sovereign economy and country,” Poilievre said.

Meanwhile, the Liberal government has been focused on diversifying trade away from the United States and is seeking to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade.

Carney’s messaging has been to “build Canada strong,” and that Canada is focusing on “what it can control.”

“In a rapidly changing world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are building our economic strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad,” the prime minister’s office said on March 2.

China Relations

Another area where Poilievre’s approach differs from Carney’s is when it comes to relations with China.

Poilievre said that while he doesn’t object to Canada opening its doors to discussions on trade and diplomacy with China, Canada “cannot sacrifice” its relationship with the United States “in favour of a tenuous and risky partnership” with Beijing.

“There’s just no way that we should proceed with a permanent rupture with our biggest customer—that buys three quarters of our exports, and our closest neighbour—in favour of what Mr. Carney calls a ’strategic partnership‘ for a ’new world order' with Beijing; a regime that Mr. Carney himself said was the biggest threat to Canada only a year ago,” Poilievre told Mansbridge.

“We sell 20 times more to the Americans that we sell to China, and that is not going to radically change overnight.”

Poilievre’s comments come after Carney visited China in January in an effort to boost Canada’s non-U.S. exports and attract more investments. Ottawa made several agreements with China during the trip, including on electric vehicles, law enforcement cooperation, energy, and finance, among other areas.

Carney said during the visit that relations between Ottawa and Beijing had entered “a new era,” and that the two countries were in a “strategic partnership.” He also said the progress made in the partnership “sets us up well for the new world order.”

Paul Rowan Brian contributed to this report.