"The American people are not our adversaries"

The text of Pierre Poilievre's speech on Canada-US relations

Pierre Poilievre in Toronto, Thursday. Photo: PW

I had no plan to turn 2026 into a year for posting the texts of politicians’ speeches, but here we go again. Pierre Poilievre’s speech Thursday to the Economic Club of Canada has been the focus of considerable speculation for a couple of weeks, largely because of its stated theme: “A Vision for Canada-US Relations.”

Poilievre’s office was kind enough to send me a text of his speech. Here it is. I should note that it’s a late draft of a text that was again substantially revised before delivery, but the gist of the argument remains. I’ll write a separate post later with my thoughts. — pw

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Nearly two thousand years ago, Marcus Aurelius expressed a timeless truth:

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

That idea is just as true for countries as it is for individuals.

Canada cannot control the decisions of foreign presidents.

We cannot control global shocks or the volatility of the world.

But we can control the strength of our own country.

We can control whether our economy is solid or fragile.

We can control whether we are dependent or self-reliant.

We can control whether we drift - or whether we build.

And the lesson of this moment is simple:

The path to sovereignty begins with focusing relentlessly on what is within our power.

Canada itself was born precisely from this insight.

Ours is not a country created by accident. Confederation was a conscious act of national self-determination--a decision by scattered provinces to unite, to build, and to govern themselves rather than be drawn into American annexation.

Yes, the founders met. Yes, they debated. Yes, they agreed.

But above all: they got things done.

If you read the British North America Act, it is not a document of grand declarations or abstract ideals.

It is an instruction manual.

It sets out responsibilities.

It defines who does what.

Then they got to work doing. The cleared the path for the railway. They opened up the prairies fields to feed the nation. They built canals. And opened our nation to commerce between people and provinces.

That history is not distant or symbolic.

It is deeply relevant today.

Conservatives are the party of Sir John A. Macdonald.

The party that created Confederation.

The party of Canada.

Macdonald and the founders did not build this country by reacting emotionally to every external disturbance. They did not define Canada by grievance or anxiety. They defined it by strengthening what lay within their control: building, doing, and completing. We drove a steel railway across the Rockies in four and a half years. Later, we carved the St. Lawrence Seaway through rock, rivers, and locks in five years, from 1954 to 1959. We built the CN Tower–then the tallest free-standing structure on Earth--in barely three years in the 1970s. That is how we built an unbreakable country.

That spirit is essential again in the CUSMA review starting this summer.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau once told the Washington Press Club that “living next to the United States was like sleeping next to an elephant. No matter how friendly and even tempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”

The last few years have seen more movement than usual.

And more is to come. So what do we do?

How we got here

We must look back to see forward.

How did we get here?

For more than three quarters of a century following the Second World War, Canada lived in the most stable geopolitical environment in modern history. We resided beside the world’s dominant military and economic power. The United States was not merely a neighbour; it was the gravitational centre of the global economy. For Canada, this reality produced a deep sense of security.

For the most part, the arrangement served Canada extraordinarily well.

The result was a massive expansion of north-south infrastructure. We built bridges, roads, railways to ship billions of dollars of goods daily. Our two countries built the St. Lawrence Seaway that opened an H2O highway from Thunder Bay and Duluth on Lake Superior to the Atlantic. Eventually, we had free trade that intertwined our economies seamlessly. We enjoyed the world’s longest undefended border with good relations punctuated by occasional squabbles. And we sided with each other in major wars and conflicts.

Supply chains intertwined.

Investment flows accelerated.

Living standards rose.

But a long period of stability risks complacency.

And Canada grew complacent. We under-invested in our military. Bureaucracies grew and blocked in our resources and politicians indulged in performative ideological grandstanding because they thought we could afford it. We made ourselves unnecessarily dependent.

China’s rise

At the same time, the global economic landscape was being transformed.

China’s economic expansion was one of the most extraordinary developments in human history. Within a single generation, China transformed from a country where 80% of the population lived on less than a dollar a day to the world’s second-largest economy.

While American capitalism had earlier buried a clunky Soviet regime, a new authoritarian powerhouse quietly and rapidly snuck up on the U.S. All this economic enrichment came without the political liberalization the West expected. One day, the Americans awoke to find their industrial base hollowed out, whole towns vanishing from job outsourcing and their economy reliant on a country that was, at best, a serious rival and, at worst, a hostile threat.

Americans went from driving globalization to believing they were its victim. Zero-sum mercantilism came roaring back to life. President Trump has sought to overturn the same trading system earlier Presidents once championed. Some of this correction was overdue. But it missed the target by going after allies like Canada, who were not the problem.

What President Trump says about Canada is wrong. Our trade surplus does not represent exploitation of the U.S. It exists because we sell high-quality resources often at massive discounts, which the U.S. resells at enormous profits. Ironically, U.S. workers gain six-figure paycheques from the fact that our government has blocked east-

west resource infrastructure, making us a captive supplier of raw resources to the United States.

He is also wrong to ignore the sacrifices Canada has made for the United States. Canadians fought and died alongside Americans in Afghanistan after 9/11. We’ve also fought and bled alongside America, from fighting in the trenches of the western front to reclaiming Alaska’s Aleutian Islands; from storming the beaches of Normandy to defending Korea’s independence. Our cooperation through NORAD has helped secure the Arctic and our hemisphere for generations.

And his 51st state talk is wrong. It goes without saying:

There is zero chance of Canada ever becoming part of the United States.

Canada is our country.

The country we love--just as Americans love theirs.

Perspective on U.S. volatility

The President’s comments and trade actions have justifiably upset Canadians.

Especially considering that Canada and the United States will always be neighbours. Geography is the most permanent fact of international relations. No country can call a realtor and relocate.

In truth, we would not wish to.

Canada and the United States have built one of the most successful economic and security partnerships the world has ever known. That partnership remains profoundly in the interests of both countries.

It is also important to distinguish governments from peoples.

Politicians come and go. The people remain. The miner in Appalachia, the energy worker in Texas, the engineer in California do not wake up each day dreaming about ways to stick it to Canadians. The American people are not our adversaries. Survey data consistently show strong American goodwill toward Canada. That goodwill is an asset of enormous strategic value.

As John F. Kennedy once observed in addressing our Parliament:

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.”

That insight captures a reality deeper than any temporary dispute.

Canada’s prosperity and security are inseparable from a stable relationship with the United States.

China and diversification

That is why we should not declare a permanent rupture from our biggest customer and closest neighbour in favour of a strategic partnership for a new world order with Beijing–a regime the Prime Minister said a year ago was the biggest threat to Canada.

We seek no fight with China or its people, who make up a brilliant and extraordinary civilization. But its government and its proxies have kidnapped our citizens, stolen our technology, interfered in our elections, and pushed fentanyl onto our streets. Not to mention, we sell 20 times more to the U.S. than to China. Canada should talk and trade where prudent–but never mistake engagement for dependence.

China is not a substitute for the United States.

Canada should pursue diversified trade and global engagement. Conservatives stand in favour of a full free trade agreement with India and deeper ties with others.

But diversification must be grounded in realism. Not all partners are interchangeable.

The Prime Minister’s Davos Speech proclaimed a new middle-power alliance. We already have that.

Canada already has free trade agreements with at least 50 countries–many of them middle powers. We should look to deepen those agreements, but their markets are largely already open to us.

But our problem is not that these countries block our products from coming IN but that our own government blocks our products from getting OUT.

Signing meaningless communiques and more stagecraft masquerading as statecraft won’t fix that.

The reality is that some of the worst tariffs imposed on Canada today are those imposed by the government here. Slow permits, changing rules, high taxes, and outright bans on shipping oil from B.C.’s northern coast. We have the second slowest building permits in the OECD. It takes 19 years to approve a mine. None of that has changed in the last year.

Unfortunately, the federal government caused these problems. Fortunately, it can reverse them.

By unblocking our resources and unleashing our economy, we can become affordable and autonomous and build the leverage to fight for tariff-free trade with the United States.

We must divide the problem into what we control and what we do not.

We cannot control others.

But we must not allow others to control us.

We must not allow President Trump to distract us from the work here at home.

As Stephen Harper recently put it:

“The question for Canada is not how we feel about what the U.S. is doing. It is: how will we adapt?”

The most effective response to uncertainty is not outrage.

It is results.

The encouraging reality is this:

The two biggest pressures facing Canada’s economy--affordability and autonomy-- share the same solutions:

• Abundant low-cost energy.

• Unblocking resources and homebuilding

• A strong military.

• Digital sovereignty.

These four pillars form our plan to make Canada Stronger At Home.

And when we are Stronger At Home–we have leverage abroad.

Abundant low-cost energy

For affordable energy, we should eliminate all carbon taxes, hidden and visible; permit rapid oil and gas and electricity projects to boost our dollar and its purchasing power; cancel EV rebates that largely subsidize foreign automobiles and instead take sales tax off vehicles made in Canada.

Unblocking resources and homes

We must unblock the most tariff-proof industry of all, homebuilding, by cutting all red tape and taxes on construction.

No foreign government can tariff homes built in Canada. Expanding supply would improve affordability, stimulate construction and forestry, and restore a realistic path to ownership for young Canadians.

Canada does not lack workers or capital for major projects.

What we lack are timely permits.

The federal government should grant six-month approval times, repeal anti-development laws and adopt a one-project, one-approval rule, as did Prime Minister Harper during the global financial crisis: 23,500 projects went from concept to completion in just over two years with no environmental or public safety problems. We can do that again.

We should use special powers on under Bill C-5 to rapidly permit a new pipeline to the Pacific carrying over $30 billion of oil for overseas markets–$30 billion is more than our total exports to China, for context.

All of these measures will be bundled together as part of our proposed Sovereignty Act.

Using our resources as strategic leverage

When we unlock our resources, we must maximize their geopolitical value.

Guaranteed access to critical minerals is about more than economics. It is power and security.

Canada produces 10 of 12 NATO defence-critical minerals. We also possess one of the world’s largest energy endowments.

No modern economy or military functions without secure energy.

Canada should establish a Strategic Energy and Mineral Reserve - stored domestically, under Canadian control, and available to secure the country and our allies during war, crisis, or supply disruption.

Such reserves would strengthen Canada’s resilience and negotiating leverage while remaining fully sovereign assets.

Strong military

We must become capable of defending every square inch of our territory without reliance on others.

We have a long way to go.

Almost half of Canada’s military equipment is not in usable condition. One in three fighter pilot positions is empty. We only have 300 full-time troops in the Canadian Arctic - a region the size of the European Union. That is roughly one soldier for every 15,000 square kilometres. Our industrial capacity is so constrained that it can take a month to produce enough artillery shells for a single day of modern warfare.

We must rebuild faster.

Modern warfare evolves at extraordinary speed. Ukraine has shown the world how rapidly new technologies can be designed, adapted, and deployed under pressure. Ukrainians modify and field new systems in weeks, not years, sometimes in their basements or garages. Drone platforms move from concept to combat almost immediately - often at remarkably low cost - and they now deliver as much as 80 percent of casualties.

Now, we are not going to design drones in home garages.

But the lesson is clear:

Defence procurement must be fast, agile, inventive. Not slow and bureaucratic.

Rebuilding our forces will require serious investment. But spending is not the goal - capability is. We must convert every dollar into maximum operational strength by reducing administrative delays, and giving military leadership clear authority to buy what they need with accountability for the result, but without bureaucratic micromanaging from above.

They must buy and develop technologies that do not yet even exist.

History shows us how. The United States Government’s request for proposal for the first military aircraft in 1907 was only three pages long. It defined the challenge and rewarded those who could solve it. The Wright brothers succeeded not because the process was elaborate, but because it paid them to deliver the result.

We must do the same.

We will also reassert Arctic sovereignty in the great Canadian tradition.

We will take back control of our North and ensure no foreign power ever threatens our territory.

With:

• New bases in Iqaluit, Churchill, and Inuvik.

• Four new icebreakers, rather than two.

• Accelerated procurement of submarines, tactical helicopters, satellite ground stations, and over-the-horizon radar.

• Rapid deployment of drone capabilities that cover vast territory at lower cost and reduced risk to Canadian lives.

• Expanded recruitment and a renewed emphasis on merit, performance, and operational excellence.

All as we honour our veterans.

Digital sovereignty

Finally we will only be truly self-reliant if we control our technologies. Dependence on externally controlled systems carries real risks. In a pandemic, a war, a natural disaster, or even a trade dispute, Canada cannot assume that foreign powers will maintain, service, or even permit the continued operation of critical technologies on which we depend.

And Canada has too often borne the costs of innovation while losing its rewards.

Subsidies make Canada an excellent place to lose money. High taxes make Canada a difficult place to make money. The result is predictable: firms invent here, then move commercialization, ownership, and profits elsewhere. Canada absorbs the cost. Others capture the benefit.

We are inventive. We invest heavily in research and development.

Now we must retain the benefits.

Canada must overhaul subsidies, tax policy, IP frameworks, and investment review laws with a goal of increasing the commercialization of Canadian-developed technologies by 50% over the next decade, ensuring that Canadian technology remains in Canadian hands, on Canadian soil, and under Canadian control.

That means:

1) Requiring anyone who offshores taxpayer-subsidized intellectual property to repay the public contribution.

2) Allowing venture capitalists to rollover their gains tax-free into developing, commercializing and deploying this technology IN CANADA.

3) And banning foreign takeovers of sensitive intellectual property, data, weapons systems, cryptography and other vital tools of survival in modern crises.

All of this–bolstering technological, resource and military sovereignty–will make Canada Stronger at Home to have leverage to fight for tariff-free trade with the U.S.

Dealing with the U.S. and CUSMA

More leverage puts us in a stronger position to negotiate.

Canada already has leverage.

And we can create even more of it - with the right moves.

We are already America’s second-largest customer.

We control the hemisphere’s largest landmass, airspace, and northern approaches.

When we build a Strategic Reserve of energy and critical minerals housed in Canada, under Canadian control, we can sign an agreement to make these resources available at commercial prices to allies during crises, provided they honour tariff-free trade commitments.

We will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on defence procurement over the next decade. Much will be spent in Canada, but we will also source from allies. How much Canada spends on U.S. defence imports should be proportionate to the trade treatment Canada receives.

We will secure every inch of our Arctic independently, strengthening our position within NORAD - an alliance we still need for shared threats and overlapping capabilities.

Finally, we should leverage our friendship with the American people.

Canadians should reach out - regularly and respectfully - to American business, unions, media, governors, mayors, investors, and civic leaders to make the case for tariff free trade and security cooperation.

All of these steps make us Stronger At Home to have leverage in the CUSMA review to get what we want.

So, what DO we want?

Tariff-free trade.

In the course of negotiating a deal, we will aggressively defend Canadian forestry workers, auto workers, steel and aluminum workers, and the farmers who feed both this country and the world.

Specifically, we will seek:

An end to steel, aluminum, autos, and lumber tariffs.

A new Tariff-Free Auto Pact to protect North American production with shared protections against vehicles from China. In short, we should agree to keep Chinese vehicles out, if America lets Canadian vehicles in.

Full exemption from Buy America rules.

A relaunch of the Keystone XL pipeline.

And we should lock all these commitments into law as much as possible - limiting future executive discretion and making unilateral tariff hikes much harder.

The best leverage we can have is to be united.

All political parties love Canada. We all want to serve the nation’s interest on CUSMA.

And we are prepared to work constructively with the government wherever Canada’s interests are advanced.

And that is why I propose an All-Party CUSMA Working Group of parliamentarians to help the government get the best deal for Canada.

But cooperation cannot mean silence.

In our system of government, the Official Opposition has a constitutional and patriotic duty to scrutinize government decisions. Abandoning that responsibility would not strengthen Canada; it would weaken it.

We will work together where we can.

And we will oppose where we must.

Because Loyal Opposition is not only in our job title, it is in our national interest.

Friends, history will not judge Canada by the disruptions we face.

But by how we respond.

By whether we surrendered to events--or mastered what lay within our power.

By whether we blamed others--or strengthened ourselves.

By whether we fixated on what we could not control–or built what we could.

By whether we became Stronger at Home, so we have leverage abroad.

Economic strength is national strength.

Energy security is national security.

Self-reliance is sovereignty made real.

Sovereignty is not declared.

It is built - deliberately, decisively, and without excuses.

Built by a country that refuses distraction, delay, and surrendering control over its own future.

Built by people who understand that Canada’s destiny will never be written in Washington, Beijing, or anywhere else--but here at home, by Canadians.

A country that stands on its own feet;

That is master in its own house

That bows before no nation;

A country that is unbreakable.

Friends, my ambition - and I believe the ambition of Canadians - is for Canada to be that country.