OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Mark Carney has not delivered on his economic promises after more than a year in office.
Poilievre spoke to a business crowd at the Canadian Club Toronto today to lay out his vision for Canada’s economy.
The Conservative leader largely repeated his pledges to cut taxes and regulations in his speech, and promised to get government out of the way of free enterprise.
Poilievre said Canada is poorer, weaker and more expensive to live in after a year of Carney in power and cited a new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business describing an “entrepreneurial drought,” where more businesses are closing than opening.
He attacked Carney’s record as governor of the Bank of England and accused the prime minister of failing to live up to promises to move rapidly on nation-building projects like a new oil pipeline in Alberta.
Poilievre acknowledged that Canada might sell less to the United States in the future because of President Donald Trump’s tariff regime but said Carney was wrong to suggest there had been a “permanent rupture” with the country’s biggest trading partner.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2026.
Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
