Prime Minister Mark Carney used a hallway scrum and a mocking talking-hand gesture to flip Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s “zero deals” attack back on the Conservatives, asking, “What’s he ever negotiated?”
The exchange followed Poilievre’s recent charge that Carney had negotiated “zero” new trade deals in his first year and still had not explained his plan for US trade talks.
“How many new trade deals with other countries do you think he has negotiated in his year in office? Zero,” Poilievre pointed out in his response video to Carney.
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On the substance, Poilievre’s line is too absolute. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Carney has “signed new global trade deals” and that Canada has signed more than 20 economic and security agreements in the last year, even as Ottawa continues trying to reduce its dependence on the US market. The Prime Minister’s Office separately said in March that Canada had secured more than 20 economic and security partnerships across four continents in 10 months and helped secure agreements worth $85.0 billion in global investment.
In addition, the Canada-Indonesia CEPA was signed on September 24, 2025 during Carney’s tenure, but Global Affairs says negotiations were already substantively concluded on November 15, 2024, before he took office on March 14, 2025.
That does not mean Poilievre’s broader criticism is baseless. The central file is still Washington, as Canada, the US, and Mexico face a July 1 decision point on CUSMA, and formal Canada-US talks on the pact had still not begun. Carney is pushing for a revised deal that addresses tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and autos, but there is still no signed US settlement to show voters.
Carney’s comeback let him recast Poilievre from economic attacker to career politician throwing stones on trade and diplomacy. This exchange comes after the Conservative leader attacked the prime minister on his economics education, saying the latter is “very badly educated on economics.” Carney shrugged it off with a “Did he? Wow,” jokingly walking back the praise he just said for Poilievre before he was told about the economics attack.
The economic backdrop makes that pressure harder to ignore. Reuters reported that Nanos polling this month showed Canadians’ top concerns were the economy and inflation, followed by the relationship with the US.
Angus Reid data released this week showed 57% of past Conservative voters want Poilievre to lead the party into the next election, down from 68% in August, while 30% now want a leadership change, up from 18%.
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