Carney stresses ‘Team Canada’ trade approach in calls with Opposition leaders

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney stressed the importance of a “united Team Canada approach” in phone calls with other party leaders on Tuesday about the state of trade talks with the United States.

The Prime Minister’s Office published a readout of the calls that said Carney briefed the Opposition leaders about Canada’s new measures responding to an escalating trade war with the United States.

“The Prime Minister and the leaders discussed the ongoing response and underscored the importance of a united Team Canada approach as Canada works to protect jobs, build the economy, and stand up for Canadian interests,” the statement read.

NDP Leader Avi Lewis, who does not hold a seat in Parliament, also received a call.

He said in a statement Tuesday that he reiterated the NDP’s support for Canada “walking away from a bad deal” on the call and that he welcomed the government’s relief measures as a first step to assist workers and industries.

“However, more action is required to make sure workers get the support they need and that we’re responding at scale and speed to the U.S. economic attacks,” he said.

Lewis said the NDP are calling for an export tax on critical minerals and energy that the U.S. depends on, strengthening EI and supports to help workers in tariff-affected sectors.

“This should include wage subsidies with strong guardrails to prevent their misuse by employers,” he said. “We cannot afford a repeat of what happened during the pandemic, when corporations received wage subsidies only to award bonuses and dividends to their CEOs and shareholders. The money must be used for keeping workers employed.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke to reporters in Windsor on Friday ahead of his scheduled call with Carney. He said that he would work with the government and other parties to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “unjustified” tariffs.

He said Ottawa’s response to U.S. trade aggression should be judged by the cost to families and workers’ jobs.

Poilievre reiterated calls for the Liberals to recall Parliament and release the text of the proposed deal that Canada’s trade team walked away from last week.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said in a statement in French that Carney told him that his preference is to no longer discuss any compromises regarding supply management.

He also said the Bloc would start conversations when Parliament resumes about sustainable funding for Quebec and Canadian broadcasting and cultural production.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and other cabinet ministers on Friday announced new retaliatory tariffs on a range of U.S. goods and hiked existing duties on steel and aluminum to 50 per cent. They also unveiled a $7.5-billion support package for businesses affected by the U.S. duties or counter-tariffs.

Poilievre on Friday also invoked former prime minister Stephen Harper when he called for Ottawa to develop a new “economic action plan” — the same branding the former Conservative leader used to push his economic agenda.

Poilievre’s pitch for that plan includes cutting the industrial carbon tax and other levies on fuel, and he repeated a Conservative campaign pledge from the 2025 federal election to waive capital gains taxes on any proceeds reinvested in Canada.

“We cannot have any more tinkering, administrative adjustments, all wrapped in big speeches and fancy announcements. We need real action,” Poilievre said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2026.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press