Carney 'should use every relationship,' Poilievre says as his MPs, including Jivani, travel to D.C.

OTTAWA —Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government “should use every relationship we have” when it comes to trying to secure a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on Wednesday.

His comments come as a group of his MPs, including Ontario MP Jamil Jivani, who has a personal relationship with Vice-President JD Vance, are in Washington for a networking conference hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, Poilievre’s office confirmed.

Other MPs in attendance include Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong, Shuvaloy Majumdar from Calgary, Jacob Mantle from Ontario and Corey Tochor from Saskatchewan.

A statement from Poilievre’s office said the MPs were in Washington carrying the party’s “Team Canada message,” and described it as an opportunity for them “to have the kind of direct, practical conversations that can help in the fight to protect and even expand tariff-free trade between our two countries.”

Asked whether Jivani, who travelled to Washington back in February to attend the National Prayer Breakfast and where he also held meetings with Vance, whom he has known from attending Yale Law School together, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would hold similar meetings on this trip, Poilievre said, “I don’t have any information on that … at this point to share.”

However, a government source confirmed that among those it was aware Jivani was set to meet Wednesday afternoon was U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. A response from Poilievre’s office has not yet been returned clarifying details.

After the MP’s February trip, Poilievre distanced himself from comments he made to Breitbart News, where Jivani discussed some of the backlash he faced in making the trip, including from some Liberal MPs, saying “we are shooting ourselves in the foot if we continue this anti-America … hissy fit.”

During Jivani’s last trip, where he also had a brief conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump while in the White House with Vance, was also viewed as polarizing within the Conservative caucus.

Poilievre, who made his first trip to the U.S. as party leader last month, travelling to Texas and New York, said that his MPs have been travelling “consistently” to Washington to “fight for tariff-free trade,” saying that roughly a dozen delegations of Conservative MPs have made the trip in recent years.

Poilievre himself has not travelled to Washington. In interviews, Poilievre has described taking the approach of allowing the U.S. administration to deal with “one prime minister at a time.”

Ontario MP Shelby Kramp-Neuman, who serves as the party’s critic in Parliament on Canada-U.S. relations, told reporters on Wednesday she would be heading to Washington in a couple of weeks.

Jivani had previously extended a hand to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc about his willingness to help the federal government navigate the Canada-U.S. relationship, particularly given the upcoming review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement and his relationships in Washington. His riding of Bowmanville—Oshawa North is also home to many autoworkers

Asked on Thursday whether he believed the Liberals ought to use Jivani’s relationship with Vance to help try and secure a deal with the U.S., Poilievre said his government “should use every relationship we have as Canadians,” adding that Conservatives have “proposed a Team Canada approach.”

“When I went down to the to the United States, I worked very collaboratively with the prime minister, and I know all of our MPs are willing to do anything they can to help, because we have to put our country first, our workers first, our economy first, and that means putting party labels aside and serving the country,” Poilievre said.

Canada faces U.S. tariffs on products such as steel, aluminum and autos. The Conservative leader has criticized the prime minister over his lack of progress on reaching a deal that would see these tariffs removed.

Carney told CBC News in an interview aired this week that Canada stands ready to resume talks with the U.S., but would not rush into signing just any deal, saying the ones signed by countries that jumped to get one with Trump “ weren’t really worth the paper they were written on,”

“We need a good deal in the right time, and what we don’t need is chasing a small deal that disadvantages us,” the prime minister told the broadcaster.

Last week, Carney also pushed back on the list of trade irritants the White House has named as wanting to see Canada resolve, including provinces putting U.S. booze back on the shelves.

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