Poilievre to Reveal Conservative Auto Plan in Windsor

The leader of Canada’s Official Opposition started his trip to the U. S. with a visit to Windsor, Ont., on Friday, before heading into Detroit for discussions about the auto sector and trade across the border.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is in the Motor City meeting with leaders from the auto industry and elected officials to advocate for a unified North American auto sector and tariff-free trade that safeguards Canadian jobs.

He mentioned plans to return to Windsor on Sunday to unveil his party’s proposed auto pact, “a plan that will allow both the United States and Canada to grow their domestic production and repatriate our industry to our country so that are people have paychecks and our national industrial base is stronger than ever.”

These are promises, he told reporters Friday morning, that Prime Minister Mark Carney made a year ago but hasn’t followed through on.

“It would align our regulations with the U. S., it would take the GST off Canadian-made automobiles, and it would make a realistic proposal to eliminate tariffs for the sale of Canadian automobiles in the United States of America,” he said.

While in Michigan, Poilievre says he’ll meet with state politicians from Ohio as well as representatives from Ford and General Motors. He couldn’t arrange a meeting with Stellantis due to what he called a “scheduling issue.”

This U. S. trip follows his recent journey to Europe – his first foreign visit as opposition leader – where he advocated for free trade and discussed a proposed agreement among Commonwealth nations.

This visit came after an important speech in Toronto, where Poilievre outlined how Canada should respond to U. S. President Donald Trump’s trade challenges.

“I think he would like to enhance his profile as a statesman for Canada,” says Julie Simmons, an associate professor of political science at the University of Guelph. “Unfortunately, as the leader of the opposition, those kinds of opportunities are not as plentiful as if you are the prime minister.”

“I think he also wants to make a strong case for tariff-free trade with the United States and make sure that he’s on record as supporting that,” she said, “because there has been some question as to the extent to which people who vote for his party, and indeed Mr. Poilievre himself, are sympathetic to some of the positions that Donald Trump has taken.”

WATCH | Carney ‘broke his promise’ to negotiate a deal with Trump on trade, Poilievre says:

Carney ‘broke his promise’ to negotiate a deal with Trump on trade, Poilievre says

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke in Windsor, Ont., on Friday criticizing Prime Minister Mark Carney for ‘the chaos that we saw unfold today’ after U. S. President Donald Trump announced he would end trade talks with Canada because of an anti-tariff ad funded by Ontario’s government.

Poilievre will head down south on Monday for a visit in Houston, Texas at an energy facility where he’ll meet executives; according to releases. Then he’ll travel on over Austin “to meet with state officials, energy agriculture and business leaders [..]to advocate for Canadian energy and trade benefiting both countries.”

The trip concludes with him giving “a keynote speech about Canada-U. S. relations” in New York City on Thursday; however there’s no plan yet for him visiting Washington D. C.

“Canada can’t control every decision made in Washington and I’ll leave negotiating up to our government but we can leverage goodwill and shared interests between us Americans,” he stated in video regarding this trip.

Pierre Poilievre addresses reporters in Windsor, Ont., alongside local Conservative MPs Kathy Borrelli, Harb Gill, and Chris Lewis on far right (Jacob Barker/CBC).

This journey comes while Poilievre aims at regaining political momentum his party had before Trump focused criticisms toward Canada coupled along PM Mark Carney leading Liberal party about one year prior. Some Conservatives argue messaging during upcoming 2025 federal election campaign lacks sufficient strength against perceived US threats.  Sincethen Poilievr hired new campaign manager earned overwhelming support leadership reviewbut dealt handful floor crossings recent months. still messages proven successful southwestern Ontario last year’s campaigns thousands attended rally windsor conservative candidates swept largely blue-collar region..