Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, who represents the Ontario riding of Bowmanville-Oshawa North, said he’s going to Washington.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney says that Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, who is headed to Washington, received a briefing from Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
Mr. Jivani, who has a personal relationship with U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, said yesterday in a post on X that he is going because he wants to help Mr. Carney be successful in negotiating a trade deal with the United States.
Mr. Jivani announced he was going to Washington just as his fellow Conservatives were preparing to celebrate Stephen Harper’s official portrait unveiling. His plans appeared to catch many MPs off guard. MPs approached for comment Tuesday declined to discuss it on the record.
In his video, Mr. Jivani said he sees Canada-U.S. trade as a non-partisan issue.
“CUSMA and trade with the United States is so important to the Canadian economy and to our future as an independent, self-reliant nation that Conservatives and Liberals don’t need to fight over this at all,” he said in the video on social media, referring to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “In fact, we need to work together.”
Carney won’t say whether Canada would align trade policy with U.S. as part of USMCA revision
Mr. Carney said his government has extensive and constant contact with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. He also took a swipe at Mr. Jivani.
“Mr. LeBlanc gave a briefing to Mr. Jivani, who I don’t believe is the trade critic for the Opposition – certainly not the minister of international trade or the prime minister,” Mr. Carney told reporters on his way into caucus.
Mr. Jivani does not have a critic role, according to the Conservative Party’s website. He does, however, represent the Ontario riding of Bowmanville-Oshawa North, which includes many auto workers impacted by the U.S. trade war.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly also weighed in on Mr. Jivani’s trip, saying she hopes he speaks about the closing of a General Motors plant in his riding.
“Ingersoll has been closed for now four months, and I haven’t heard him once saying that he was deploring what was going on, and basically GM closing Ingersoll and hundreds of people losing their jobs,” she said.
Mr. Jivani did mention the autoworkers in his video, saying he gets alarmed when he sees Oshawa museums giving free admission to GM employees to stand in solidarity with them.
Their “lives have been turned upside down because of the economic uncertainty, the tariffs, and the lack of a good trade relationship with our biggest trading partner,” he said.