Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party, made a stop in Woodstock, Ont. Saturday speaking to supporters and holding a meet and greet. The appearance came just hours after Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump could not come to an agreement on tariffs and Carney vowed to retaliate with equal measures. “At 12 a.m. new tariffs hit from the United States of America, which presented with new difficulties,” Poilievre told the hundreds in attendance. “Conservatives are determined to put our country first in this trade dispute. We are fighting every day and every way for tariff free trade. We believe that we can compete. Our workers, farmers and businesses can compete with the United States on a level playing field, and that’s why we want to fight for a good deal for this country.” After a round of applause, he told supporters what he believes is necessary going forward. “We need to use our leverage,” he said. “We have what the Americans need. We have ten of the 12 NATO-defined strategic minerals that you need to fight a war. They don’t have those. We have the fourth biggest supply of oil. Why don’t we build up a massive strategic reserve of these minerals and that all, and make it available for those countries that provide us tariff free trade? That is real positive leverage to get a deal for our people.” Earlier in the day, he expressed his disappointment with Trump on social media. “Canadians must stand united to defend our country against these unfair attacks on our jobs and businesses. Canada cannot accept one-sided tariffs that will deindustrialize our country. Nor can we accept a bad deal. Instead, we must continue the fight for tariff-free trade. Later today, I will seek a call with the Prime Minister to discuss what we can do to fight for our workers, businesses, and economy.” Poilievre appeared at a BBQ hosted by Oxford Member of Parliament (MP) Arpan Khana. Many Conservative MP colleagues were also in attendance. “It’s phenomenal to have Pierre Poilievre here with us,” said Khana. “The leader of a party, along with other conservative colleagues, a strong, united conservative movement that’s here to fight for Canadians, to make sure we could push back against the unjustified tariffs that we’re seeing from down south, but also just champion our workers, our businesses, our farmers and industry,” said Khana. After the speech, people lined up to get a photo opportunity with Poilievre. They believe he can lead Canadians. “It’s time to stop 80 years or more of allowing everyone to say, ‘I’m going to make this widget way over there and doesn’t matter if it’s going to shut down factories and lose jobs here,’” said Joseph Arena, an author and business owner. “We’ve got to stop that. We’ve got to start becoming self-sufficient. We don’t have enough oil pipelines. We don’t have enough pulp and paper mills and we just lost three more. Being part of the publishing industry and as an author and an artist in a game inventor those things are vital. He’s here to stand up to every walk of life,” said Arena. Poilievre says his MP’s are going to be fanning out across the country over the next several weeks to listen to farmers and business owners and come up with an economic plan to prepare of the trade disputes ahead. He will be in London, Ont. Sunday for a meet and greet with MP Kurt Holman.
