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As Trump plunges us into a reckless trade war with Canada, I met with Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade Yasir Naqvi today in Ottawa. The U.S.–Canada relationship is bigger than any one administration. I'm committed to ensuring the partnership between our two countries endures long after President Trump leaves office.

Outside of the Chicoutimi Le Fjord riding in Quebec where CPC vote bottomed out due to Richard Martel leaving for a Senate appointment from Carney, the other 2 ridings (North Van, and Beaches) basically just reflect the reality of what Angus Reid, Abacus Data and Innovative Research are showing. Liberals are ahead nationally by 4-8%. (And that’s mostly just from Conservatives dropping a bit not Liberals gaining more support) But not the insane +17 or +20 results we see from other pollsters. Not a good night for Conservatives, nobody will pretend it is. But the nightmare polls are not accurate. The Conservatives need to stop waiting for Mark Carney to collapse. It’s a terrible electoral strategy. Carney is not good for Canada but he’s also not obviously terrible so a lot of people will stay with him as a comfortable incumbent pretending to protect them from Trump. Conservatives need to run on much bolder policy that paints a starkly different vision for the country than the Carney Liberals do. Too many CPC policies right now feel like tinkering around the edges and shifting policy a little to the right, but that doesn’t make people show up and vote for change when the change being offered is marginal sounding to the average voter. Part of what makes people sick of an incumbent is seeing their performance contrasted with a bold alternative. The “government in waiting” cliche the Conservatives keep referencing as if they are just simply supposed to sit there and look pretty until Canadians choose them is stupid. This has nothing to do with who leads the Conservative Party because this has been an institutional problem for over a decade and most of the voices critiquing Poilievre from the conservative side, are all people who would pivot to the middle where they would lose harder. Be strong Conservative don’t be more competent Liberals. 90% of politics is about exciting your base and turning them out hard for elections. You won’t convince an Elbows Up Liberal to change team, you need to strengthen your current coalition so that they increase their turnout and run on bold policies that wake up non-voters and make them want to enter the electorate to get you into office. Tinkering around the edges, makes your base feel bored less likely to show up, and you will basically win no Liberals over to your side. No doubt tonight the Liberals were benefitted from Trump being back in the headlines but that’s all the more reason for the CPC to push a bold policy that makes the Liberals look weak on trade. Run on a massive 20% tax-cut to “out-compete the Americans” (income taxes and corporate taxes) and cast the Carney Liberals as pretending to fight Trump and utilize leverage when in fact, they’re actually tying Canadian businesses arms behind their backs, and Canadian businesses are constantly fleeing south for that reason.