MONTREAL — Days after welcoming a social conservative into his caucus, Prime Minister Mark Carney is trying to reassure Liberals the party hasn’t changed. In a closing speech to delegates Saturday, Carney underscored the values he says his party stands for including a women’s right to choose and a just society that takes care of the vulnerable. “As Liberals, we are passionate about building a strong economy as the means to a just society,” Carney told the crowd. “Where women always have the right to choose. Where you can believe what you want to believe; Where you can love who you want to love.” The comments in Carney’s speech come days after former Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu crossed the floor. The entrance of the Sarnia MP, once known as a social conservative, raised questions among some delegates and strategists about whether the party’s tent was becoming too big. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Gladu said she was pro-choice and anti-conversion therapy, despite previous comments suggesting the opposite. Carney has said Gladu will be expected to vote with the government on any future votes relating to abortion or similar issues. “I will vote with the government,” Gladu said on Thursday. “I will protect the rights and freedoms of women to choose, for people to be who they are and love who they love.” The Liberal government has welcomed five floor crossers in just over five months, four are former conservatives and one is a former NDP MP. Four of those MPs were introduced to delegates on stage during the party’s three-day policy convention in Montreal. Carney specifically addressed the floor crossings in French only, saying some MPs have changed camps to join the party because they understand the importance of what is at stake and know that together they can achieve better. In English, he highlighted the need for unity and cooperation. “This is not the time for politics as usual, for petty differences for political point scoring,” he said. “United, we will build Canada Strong, a Canada for all— A Canada strong that no one can ever take away.” To build Canada Strong, Carney said Canada needs to continue diversifying its trading partners and strengthening its economy. Canadians, Carney said, are demonstrating just how strong they are by choosing Canada repeatedly over the last year. “It started quietly, people choosing a wine from the Okanagan over one from California… A family planning a vacation to Prince Edward Island instead of booking flights to Florida,” Carney said to a loud round of applause. “Small, small individual acts of solidarity, but repeated millions of times and together, they make a statement: we are the masters of our destiny.” Carney’s speech makes just one reference to Trump in a quote from his “old friend Bob Zettle.” Carney cited the same quote in his victory speech at last year’s Liberal Leadership contest. “Right now, everyone sees the main threat as the Trump tariffs. But the far greater challenge will be, as it has always been, to foster unity and a sense of the common good,” Carney quoted. “Bob’s right, Canadians are being called to serve but not against something. For something, for each other and that is why you are here. You believe, like I believe, that Canada is only strong when it works for everyone” Carney was introduced by his wife Diana Fox Carney, who was introduced by the candidate in Terrebonne Tatiana Auguste. Terrebonne is one of three ridings holding a byelection on Monday. The two Toronto-area ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale are considered safe Liberal seats, while senior Liberals expect Terrebonne will once again be a close race with the Bloc. Auguste won by one vote in 2025, but that result was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada. If the Liberals win all three, they will have 174 seats, a two-seat majority in the House of Commons. Buy Canadian Policy Last week, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a report calling Canada’s Buy Canadian Policy a trade irritant. In his speech, the prime minister highlighted the policy as a way Canadians are standing up for each other to make the country stronger. He told the crowd that this policy will make every community across Canada stronger. Canada, he repeated, is on track to double non-US exports over the next decade. “The days of our military sending 70 cents of every dollar to the United States are over,” he told the crowd to a standing ovation. “We are going to build, we are going to build Canada strong with Canadian steel, Canadian aluminum, Canadian lumber, Canadian workers.” Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy talks about the desire to diversify away from the United States and build new defence-industrial relationships, including with the European Union and the United Kingdom. The strategy says that 49 per cent of the defence-related products and services produced by Canadian firms are sold abroad. Of those exports, the strategy says 69 per cent go to the United States and Canada’s other Five Eyes Partner. The new strategy aims to increase the share of defence acquisitions awarded to Canadian firms to 70 per cent. One of the big purchases Canada still has to make is around the F-35s. Canada has decided to move forward with the purchase of 16 F-35s already in production, but the government has said it’s reviewing a decision on whether to acquire several dozen more jets from Lockheed Martin in the United States. The Swedish company Saab has talked to Ottawa about making its Gripen fighter jets on Canadian soil.
