Conservatives will ‘co-operate’ with Liberals to end U.S. trade dispute: Poilievre

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to reporters outside of West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, May 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he’s willing to work with the Liberals in Parliament on efforts to resolve the trade war with the United States.

Poilievre is meeting with the Conservative caucus on Sunday as they prepare to return to the House of Commons without him in the chamber.

His nearly 15-minute opening address to the party’s MPs was open to media and laid out the Conservatives’ priorities in the House of Commons for the spring session set to begin Monday.

Poilievre says the Conservatives owe it to Canadians who supported them in the last election to fight for change in the legislature and listed priorities that closely echo his pledges from the campaign.

But he also says he’s told Prime Minister Mark Carney that Conservatives will “co-operate” anyway they can to bring an end to the trade dispute with the U.S.

The Conservatives won 144 seats in the April 28 election but Poilievre’s was not one of them, so former party leader Andrew Scheer will stand in for Poilievre in the House of Commons until he can secure a seat in a byelection.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2025.