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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre landed in London on Monday for a European tour that includes stops in the United Kingdom and Germany.
On his first foreign trip as Opposition leader, Poilievre is meeting with like-minded politicians and laying out a political and economic vision he hopes can rival Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Poilievre spoke Monday evening at a reception at London’s exclusive, members-only Carlton Club, a bastion for British Tories dating back to 1832. In a brief address at a reception focused on relations between Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, he urged greater co-operation between the Commonwealth partners on critical minerals, defence procurement and recognizing professional credentials from each other’s jurisdictions.
“A nurse or a doctor in London, England, is certainly qualified to be a nurse or doctor in London, Ontario,” Poilievre said.
Recognizing foreign medical credentials has been a perennial problem for skilled immigrants arriving in Canada, but is primarily a provincial and territorial responsibility.
On critical minerals, Poilievre floated the idea of a “critical minerals and energy compact” and a “critical minerals and energy reserve” that would be available to Canada’s allies in times of crises, provided those countries allow tariff-free trade with Canada.
Poilievre first proposed the idea in a speech to a business audience in Toronto last week.
Poilievre’s remarks on Monday are seen as a warm up to a speech he is set to deliver in London on Tuesday. Poilievre will deliver the Margaret Thatcher lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies before travelling to Berlin for more meetings and more talk.
The trip comes after some difficult months for him and his party. Three Conservative MPs have crossed the floor to join the governing Liberals; the latest, Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux, jumped ship after saying in November he was leaving politics to spend more time with his family.
Polls are now consistently showing Conservatives trailing the Liberals in public support with voters generally holding a more positive view of Carney than Poilievre.
Carney made headlines around the world in January for a speech he delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The prime minister laid out a detailed critique of the rules-based international order while warning of what he called a “rupture” in that order.
That message was seen as being aimed at the U.S. and, in particular, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Poilievre, who once vowed to bar any ministers in his Conservative government from attending WEF meetings, responded to Carney’s Davos speech in his Toronto address.
“We should not declare a permanent rupture with our biggest customer and closest neighbour in favour of a strategic partnership for a new world order with Beijing,” Poilievre said.
