Using the Detroit skyline as a backdrop, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre demanded the Carney government reconvene Parliament and release the text of the trade deal it rejected last Friday night.
"There are no national secrets in that text. It's already been shown to the United States Administration," he said. "Canadians deserve to see it."
Poilievre had a list of demands for the federal government to protect workers and businesses. The list includes removing the capital gains tax, cancelling gas and diesel taxes until Canada Day, scrapping the industrial carbon tax, and removing the GST from Canadian-made vehicles.
Some of the demands are not new, but Poilievre told reporters they are essential to keeping Canada's economy afloat and families solvent.
The Conservative leader said he's spent the past two days in Windsor speaking with workers, and they're afraid.
"I met with one auto worker yesterday who said, 'Will I still have a job?' I saw fear in his eyes. How is he going to pay his mortgage? How is he going to pay for his kids' hockey registration? What if he loses his job? How far away will he have to move?"
But while calling for solidarity among Canadians in the trade war, Poilievre criticized the Carney government and the last decade of Liberal policies, appearing to stump Conservative policies.
"In all the noise and the drama, we cannot forget that we are talking about people's lives. Their jobs, their cost of living, their lives. Everything we do, everything, must be focused on protecting their jobs and their cost of living. That is what Conservatives are focused on," he said.
Poilievre again criticized the Prime Minister for not getting a trade deal before July 1, and said pre-emptive concessions didn't achieve the goal of getting a trade deal.
He also signalled his party may not be in favour of counter-tariffs.
"He said the other day that tariffs are taxes. That is a quote," said Poilievre. "So what will retaliatory tariffs mean for grocery bills, gas prices, and the cost of everyday goods?"
As for suggestions for the Carney government, Poilievre offered the introduction of a 1965-style auto pact to protect jobs, using military spending as leverage, stopping what he called "a back door EV mandate," and lowering the cost of energy on production.
"All of those things will make it possible for us to compete and for our incredible auto workers to keep their jobs and grow their paycheques," he said.
*With files from Maureen Revait.
