Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre arrives on Parliament Hill before a meeting of the Conservative caucus on Wednesday.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is headed for the United States next week on a tour to make the case for Canada’s auto and energy sectors and tariff-free trade.
Although the trip includes stops in New York and the states of Michigan and Texas, Mr. Poilievre will not be visiting the U.S. capital, Washington.
“I’ll be heading to the United States to stand up for Canada and Canadian workers,” Mr. Poilievre said in a video clip posted Wednesday on social media.
The Conservative Leader said he would leave negotiations with the U.S. to the federal government.
“But we can leverage the goodwill and shared interests with the American people,” he added.
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This new trip follows recent travel by the Official Opposition Leader to Britain and Germany to talk about trade and other issues.
On Friday, Mr. Poilievre will be in Detroit to meet with auto industry leaders and state legislators. On March 15, he will hold a press conference back in Canada, in Windsor, Ont.
Mr. Poilievre will be in Texas on March 16, meeting with energy executives and visiting an energy facility in Houston.
On March 17, he will meet in Austin, Tex., with state officials and energy, agriculture and business leaders to talk about energy and trade.
The tour ends March 19 in New York, where Mr. Poilievre is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech to the Foreign Policy Association on Canada-U.S. relations.
The federal Conservative Party is paying for the trip, said a statement issued by Mr. Poilievre’s office.
His office did not respond to a question about whether he had sought a briefing from the office of the minster responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc.
Asked about Mr. Poilievre’s trip, pollster Nik Nanos said it’s clear that the federal Conservative Leader is looking to get into the news more often to compete with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has been travelling abroad to build stronger trade and investment partnerships.
“Being proactive in the public domain is critical for Poilievre to build his brand as an alternative to Carney,” Mr. Nanos, the chief data scientist at Nanos Research, said in a statement.
Pollster David Coletto said he did not think, in the short term, that the trip would have much impact on how people assess Mr. Poilievre or how he compares with Mr. Carney.
But the founder, chair and chief executive of Abacus Data said in a statement that if U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S.-Canada relationship remain a core part of the federal politics conversation, the Conservative Leader will need to close the gap between himself and Mr. Carney on who Canadians think can best handle this.
“Being engaged and seen as relevant on trade issues and having something to say rather than trying to change the subject seems to be his new strategy,” Mr. Coletto said.
“It may work. Or it may reinforce the advantage that the Prime Minister has.”