Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre reminded a crowd of conservative faithful in Ottawa that, despite not winning last year’s election, he is still a fighter.
“Some people have accused me of being a fighter, but that’s because some things are actually worth fighting for,” he said.
Poilievre’s comments were made during his keynote address at the Canada Strong and Free Networking conference, a national gathering of conservatives. Poilievre last addressed the event in 2024. Then, with the Conservatives riding high in the polls, his speech felt more like a campaign rally, with applause erupting throughout.
This time, the reception was still warm, but more restrained. Poilievre’s speech began and ended with standing ovations, and dozens of people lined up after his speech to get pictures with him. But his speech was less energetic and, at 20 minutes, was half the length of his 2024 address.
This time, the audience was also smaller. According to conference organizers, around 600 people attended this year’s conference, down from 900 last year and about 1,000 in 2024.
‘Nothing has changed’
Still, Poilievre’s message remained primarily unchanged. The Liberals have ruined Canada, and only the Conservatives have a plan to right the country’s fortunes.
Poilievre pointed to the rising use of food banks, the increase in young people living at home, high youth unemployment, and Canada’s slipping ranks in the World Happiest Report as signs of the country’s dire situation.
The Conservatives have consistently had better policies for all the major political crises, he said, including the carbon tax, crime and housing.
“We won these debates so thoroughly that Liberals have stopped debating us altogether and started plagiarizing,” he said, referring to the Liberal government’s adoption of Conservative policies. “The problem with plagiarism is that it starts and ends with words.”
After a year in power, Prime Minister Mark Carney has not done anything to improve the country, said Poilievre. Carney has not repealed any of the laws from Justin Trudeau’s governments that made it harder to build, he said, and there is no progress on a pipeline to carry Canadian oil to the Pacific Ocean for international exports.
“Nothing has changed,” Poilievre said. “Not one word, not one comma, not one period has been changed.”
Chief among Carney’s faults is the lack of progress made in negotiating a trade agreement with the United States, Poilievre said.
“He hasn’t sat down at the negotiating table for five months,” said Poilievre. “While the Mexicans are there eating our diplomatic and economic lunch, he is sitting on the sidelines.”
Poilievre also decried the trade agreements that have been made between Canada and China. Canada needs to fight for a tariff-free deal with the United States, but it cannot abandon its largest and closest trading partner.
“We must reject the idea of a permanent rupture with our biggest customer, which buys two-thirds of our goods, in favour of a strategic partnership for a new world order with Beijing.”
‘Worth fighting for’
Poilievre offered little in terms of concrete plans for how he would govern if he was prime minister, or what policies his party would put forward.
He said the Conservatives would fight for more oil and gas development, the removal of taxes on homes and zero taxes on fuel. “When you lower the price of fuel, you lower poverty levels,” he said.
In his speech, Poilievre did not address any of the challenges facing the Conservatives. He did not mention the recent floor crossers. He did not talk about the threats of separatism in Alberta or Quebec, despite coming on stage after a panel discussion on the topic.
But he also refrained from some familiar Conservative talking points. While he criticized Liberals for dominating most media panels, he never mentioned the CBC. He also steered clear from cultural topics like gender identity, although he did criticize the Liberal’s hate crimes bill, saying it would prohibit Christian pastors from citing Bible passages that oppose LGBTQ relationships.
He referenced the record number of Canadians who voted for the Conservatives in the 2025 election but gave no indication of how the party plans to attract new voters.
Instead, he returned to his previous message of restoring the ability of Canadians to work hard, buy a home and raise a family in a safe country:
“The country that we knew and still love, a country where the people are back in charge of their lives, because this country and its people are worth fighting for.”
