Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney on Jan. 24, 2026, offering to fast-track legislation on trade deals, grocery prices, bail reform and major projects as Parliament returned, while sharply criticizing the Liberal record under the subject line “Time to turn rhetoric into reality.”
An olive branch with thorns
The letter, sent Saturday before Parliament opened Monday after a six-week winter break, opened by quoting Carney’s widely shared speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier in the week: “A country that can’t feed itself, fuel itself, or defend itself has few options.”
Poilievre argued Canada can do none of those things despite Carney’s “rhetoric,” pointing to food price inflation, rising gas prices he blamed on “anti-energy” policies, and gaps in military personnel and resources.
“You said you would move at speeds not seen since the Second World War. But the reality does not match the rhetoric,” Poilievre wrote. “Sure, the deficit has doubled. But little else has changed. People cannot eat speeches. Photo ops don’t stop criminals. Pipelines need permits not signing ceremonies and red carpets.”
In a passage reported by CBC News, he pressed the point further: “You have been in power for almost a year. You have passed only two bills and you have convened Parliament for the fewest sitting days since 1937.”
What the Conservatives offered
Beneath the attack lines, the letter proposed a list of ways the Conservatives would help advance shared priorities, and urged the Liberals to support Conservative amendments and proposals in return.
Poilievre said his caucus would help fast-track bills to enact trade deals, including one to invite the United Kingdom to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership and another to approve the Canada-Indonesia trade deal. He also offered to team up with Liberals to advance Canada’s trade ties abroad: “Members of our Conservative team are ready to travel to the United States or other markets to open up trade, including in bipartisan delegations, to expand exports.”
The offer extended to groceries, the bail system and approvals for major projects. According to CBC’s account of the letter, Poilievre said the Conservatives would fast-track the Liberal bail-reform bill, C-14, so it could pass all stages of the House of Commons by Wednesday — if the justice committee agreed to pause debate on Bill C-9, the government’s anti-hate legislation that some religious leaders have criticized. Liberals on the committee had so far refused that trade.
A minority Parliament test
The letter landed in a minority Parliament where the Liberals need opposition support to pass legislation and where, the Conservatives argue, the House has been sitting at a historically low frequency. The Liberals moved a relatively small amount of legislation in the fall sitting.
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon told reporters he hoped “a lot” of legislation gets passed this spring, though he would not say which bills take priority. “They’re all priorities. Bills are like my children, it’s very hard to pick between them,” he said. Of Poilievre’s written proposals, MacKinnon added: “We’re taking a good look at that and we’ll be interested to follow up.”
The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
