With little focus on foreign policy, Poilievre has ‘blank slate’ to craft platform, say experts

With little foreign policy vision offered by the new Conservative leader during his leadership campaign, experts say Pierre Poilievre now has a “blank slate” to fill the “void.” Despite an ongoing war in Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continued recalculating of Canada’s relationship with China, and worry over the reliability of the United States, Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.) and other Conservative leadership candidates had scant details about how their foreign policy differed to that of the previous Tory leaders—seemingly a sign of the little value Canadian voters place on foreign policy at the ballot box. Poilievre touched on the foreign policy file when he attacked Jean Charest for his work with Huawei, trumpeted exporting liquefied natural gas to Europe to diminish Russian energy exports, and a controversial proclamation that he would bar any cabinet ministers in his government from speaking at the World Economic Forum. Over his 18-year parliamentary career, the 43-year-old has shown little interest in foreign policy, occupying domestic-focused critic roles and cabinet posts. Despite a focus on international relations as an undergraduate at the University of Calgary—during which he earned awards for his debating prowess at a Model United Nations Conference—he has rarely addressed foreign policy in his Chamber speeches. Royal Military College professor Adam Chapnick, an expert on Canadian foreign policy, said Poilievre has a “blank slate” to craft a foreign policy platform. “He could go forward in a few ways. My hope would be he would take the humble approach and start asking questions before offering solutions. There is a bit of a blank slate there and there’s an opportunity to ask questions,” he said, remarking another approach would be to borrow the foreign policy position of past Conservative leaders or craft his own. “I don’t think he’s given us very many hints as to which one he’s going to use. So I think it really is something reasonably close to a blank slate at this point and I wouldn’t expect him to drop hints anytime soon … because I don’t see what political benefits he would gain—it’s not part of what has made his brand so popular with an increasing number of Canadians,” Chapnick said. Chapnick said the Liberal government’s rhetoric on foreign policy has been “large,” but he remarked its actions have been “fairly cautious.” With Poilievre campaigning on cutting the deficit, that would affect any ability to call for an ambitious foreign policy, which would need to be backed by capital spending. “If he doesn’t want to call for a more ambitious foreign policy, it is more difficult to be overly critical of this government because it has been so incrementalist in the actual policies that it has put forward,” Chapnick said. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he will look towards John Baird, pictured, to address the crisis in Sri Lanka. The Hill Times file photograph While Canadian political parties have offered little concrete details on foreign policy in recent election platforms, past Conservative leader Erin O’Toole (Durham, Ont.) set out a comprehensive vision of Canada’s role in the world in his platform, which included 31 references to China. Ian Brodie, who chaired the Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC), hinted that scant details were offered on foreign policy because of each candidate’s similar views when he responded to a question about where Poilievre stood on defence spending. “During a leadership race you have to talk about issues that divide the candidates … I can’t think of anybody that would get an advantage by talking about two per cent NATO . I think that’s a pretty close to universal in the party,” Brodie said during an interview on Canadian Global Affairs Institute’s podcast The Global Exchange. He said that Poilievre has a lot of room to craft a policy on China and Taiwan, noting the declining view in Canada about the Chinese government. “I think Poilievre has an enormous amount of room to shift Canadian policy towards both China and Taiwan in ways I don’t think we can foresee at this moment,” said Brodie, a former chief of staff to then-prime minister Stephen Harper. One area that Poilievre did address was the crisis in Sri Lanka. In a letter that was published by the Tamil Guardian, Poilievre said he would “bring the full weight of the Government of Canada to bear toward justice” for former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He said Sri Lankan war criminals “must be held to account” and that he would “restore Canadian leadership by standing with human rights advocates, supporting the war crimes investigations they demand, and imposing Magnitsky sanctions.” Poilievre also said he would rely on former Conservative foreign affairs minister John Baird, who served as co-chair of Poilievre’s campaign, for his “his clear-eyed and principled expertise,” adding that the former top Canadian diplomat would be tapped to work Indo-Pacific allies to work towards “a region reflecting the democratic and economic aspirations of a new generation of Sri Lankans.” A spokesperson for Poilievre didn’t respond to a question about Baird’s role in Poilievre’s foreign policy platform, nor if the Conservative leader will set out a more fulsome foreign policy platform than was offered during the leadership campaign. Carleton University professor Fen Osler Hampson, who has authored a number of books on Canada’s foreign policy, said expecting Poilievre’s foreign policy to look similar to Harper’s is not likely. “The world has changed pretty dramatically since the day of even Stephen Harper, and to dust off what some saw as being a Conservative foreign policy is not realistic or practicable given the kinds of challenges that we are seeing globally,” he said, noting the challenges of Russia and China, as well as addressing the political instability in the U.S. Hampson said given the small role foreign policy plays in a general election, he was unsurprised that it didn’t even “register even a single footnote” during the Conservative leadership. “The Conservative leadership is going to have to start filling that void,” he said, adding that includes questions about how much Poilievre is willing to spend on defence compared to what currently is being spent. Veteran foreign policy observer Kim Richard Nossal, a Queen’s University emeritus professor, said what has been said by Poilievre on foreign affairs has been “pretty mainstream,” except for the discourse around the World Economic Forum. He said a question mark remains when it comes to Poilievre’s views about Canada’s relationship with the U.S. “That’s going to be the tough situation, especially if the United States continues its authoritarian turn,” he said. “If, in fact, the United States swings that way and the 2024 elections result in a Republican Trumpist candidate, whether Trump himself or someone else, being placed in power in January of ’25 … that’s a huge set of red flags.” “What we haven’t seen is any Canadian politician actually grapple with the implications of what it would mean for Canada if the United States takes a markedly anti-democratic, illiberal, authoritarian turn,” he said. He said that Poilievre has been treated with “kid gloves” by the national press on foreign and defence policy issues, remarking there hasn’t been “hard questions” put to Poilievre on important foreign policy issues that his potential government would have to face, such as on Russia, China, the possibility of a Trumpist administration, climate change, the Arctic, and cross-border trade with the U.S. Conservative MP Michael Chong has been his party's foreign affairs critic since 2020. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade Poilievre has been reluctant to make himself available to reporters and has only taken a smattering of questions from the press since becoming leader. Brodie said on the Global Exchange podcast that Poilievre’s national security team in his shadow cabinet will be an “early indication” of his foreign policy direction. Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington–Halton Hills, Ont.) has been his party’s defence critic since 2020. Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay (South Surrey-White Rock, B.C.) was the Tory’s defence critic, but has since been named the chief opposition whip. Chong has been widely praised for his depth of knowledge of the foreign affairs file. Chapnick said leaving Chong in the post would be a demonstration that he performed well. “There really is no reason to replace him unless you are planning a massive shift in the Conservative position,” he said. “There haven’t been that many Conservatives that have terribly interested in foreign policy the way Mr. Chong has.” Nossal said Chong’s instincts are “exceedingly smart and mainstream.” “It is entirely possible that Mr. Poilievre will look at the support Mr. Chong has in the foreign affairs area and just simply stick with him,” he said. “Or it may well be that despite that foreign affairs was not a big part of the campaign, it may well be that Mr. Poilievre wants to put his particular individual stamp on the foreign policy position of the Conservatives in opposition and might indeed shuffle Mr. Chong out and put someone closer to his particular views .” nmoss@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

With little focus on foreign policy, Poilievre has ‘blank slate’ to craft platform, say experts

Pierre Poilievre rarely spotlighted foreign policy on the campaign trail, a 'void' he will now have to fill, says Fen Osler Hampson.

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With little focus on foreign policy, Poilievre has ‘blank slate’ to craft platform, say experts

Pierre Poilievre rarely spotlighted foreign policy on the campaign trail, a 'void' he will now have to fill, says Fen Osler Hampson.

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