Canada Conservative leader dismisses MP's 'hissy fit' remark over US relations

Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said he does not agree with an elected member of his party who claimed that Canada was harming its relationship with the US by throwing an "anti-American hissy fit".

Jamil Jivani, a Conservative MP from Ontario, made the remark in an interview with right-wing American news outlet Breitbart over the weekend.

On Tuesday, Poilievre distanced himself from Jivani's comment, telling reporters that the MP does not speak for his party.

Jivani spoke to Breitbart after he travelled to Washington earlier this month on a trip that was not sanctioned by the Canadian government, and where he had an unofficial meeting with US Vice-President JD Vance.

Vance and Jivani are longtime friends and were former roommates at Yale University, where both attended law school.

Ahead of his trip, Jivani said in a video post on X that he was going to Washington to help Prime Minister Mark Carney negotiate a trade deal with the US.

On Saturday, the Conservative MP told Breitbart that Canadians "are shooting ourselves in the foot if we continue this anti-America… hissy fit".

Anti-US sentiments have grown in Canada in response to President Donald Trump's tariffs on key Canadian sectors and his comments on Canada being the "51st state".

Carney, a Liberal, successfully campaigned on taking a defiant stance in response to Trump by diversifying trade and reducing Canada's reliance on the US.

Speaking about Jivani's trip, Poilievre said he believes it is "necessary" for all MPs to use their connections to advance trade talks in an effort to overturn US tariffs on Canada.

But he added he did not agree with Jivani's comments to Breitbart.

"Canadians are legitimately upset by the unjustifiable tariffs and the comments that the president has made," Poilievre told reporters.

"He speaks for himself, and I speak for the party," Poilievre said.

Jivani has said that he had "productive meetings" with the White House and the state department during his trip.

"The President asked me to pass along a message: 'Tell the Canadians I love them," Jivani said in a post on X on 4 February.

At the time, Carney told reporters that Jivani was briefed on the file by the minister of Canada-US trade, Dominic LeBlanc. But the prime minister noted that Jivani was not in Washington on an official capacity.

Jivani represents the Ontario constituency of Bowmanville-Oshawa North, which includes many auto workers affected by US tariffs.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has been vocal against Trump's tariffs on his province's auto sector, also criticised Jivani's remarks to Breitbart.

"I am happy that he went down in the US, I'm happy when I see other premiers go down to the US and lobby," Ford told reporters on Tuesday. "But no, I don't call it a hissy fit".

Canada remains subject to sector-specific tariffs by the Trump administration, as well as a blanket 35% tariff rate on goods not covered by a longstanding free trade agreement between the two countries and Mexico.

That free trade agreement is now up for a scheduled review that is set to conclude later this year.