OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney retooled an advisory committee on Canada-U.S. trade on Tuesday, adding a former Conservative leader, the former high commissioner to the United Kingdom and a who’s who of business executives representing industries most impacted by President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs.
The committee, which will be chaired by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, replaces the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations that was established by former prime minister Justin Trudeau in January 2025. It is being renamed the Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations.
Carney said the council will advise him, LeBlanc and the rest of the negotiating team as Canada prepares for the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade this June.
“It’s a diverse group — leaders in the union movement, experts in industry, CEOs in finance and across the economy,” Carney said in a brief statement as he arrived on Parliament Hill Tuesday.
The new names include former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, former Liberal cabinet minister and high commissioner to the U.K. Ralph Goodale, former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt and former Nunavut premier P.J. Akeeagok.
O’Toole told The Canadian Press he spoke with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong about joining the committee and both were supportive of the move.
“Pierre saw a lot of value in me serving on this, so I’m going to be Team Canada, but I’m also going to make sure that I’m raising issues that I think were missed in the last government,” O’Toole said.
O’Toole said he wants his role on the committee to be substantive, not just symbolic. He said that, based on the other names at the table, it appears the government is seeking real feedback and advice.
“I was quite critical of Mr. Trudeau and (former finance minister Chrystia) Freeland the last time around. They had their so-called progressive trade agenda, which did not align with American concerns on a range of issues, particularly China,” O’Toole said.
“So I think I’ll be bringing some different perspective, and I think that’s what the prime minister wants with this panel.”
Carney’s revamped committee has more top-level business executives than the previous version representing key industries including energy, auto manufacturing forestry, steel, aluminum and mining. They include the heads of CN Rail, the Bank of Montreal, Nutrien, Dofasco, TC Energy, Canfor and Teck Resources, among others.
The new group does not include more than a dozen people that were on Trudeau’s advisory committee, including former Alberta premier Rachel Notley and “Dragon’s Den” fixtures Arlene Dickinson and Wes Hall.
Notably, Carney’s committee omits the inclusion of Steve Verheul, who was Canada’s chief negotiator on the current Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.
Canada’s ambassador in Washington, Mark Wiseman, is not on the committee, though his predecessor, Kirsten Hillman, was on the Trudeau panel.
Only four names from that panel are returning, including former Quebec premier Jean Charest, Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association president Flavio Volpe, Unifor president Lana Payne, and Tabatha Bull, CEO of the Canadian Council for Indigenous Businesses.
LeBlanc said the committee is focused on businesses with important American connections and customers, and will hold its first meeting next week.
“I have spoken to a number of these people over the last number of days. This will be a forum for the government of Canada to hear directly from business leaders, elected union leaders and community leaders,” he said.
Raitt, now a CIBC investment executive, said she’s looking forward to working with Janice Charette, Canada’s chief trade negotiator with the U.S., and is optimistic about the government taking the committee’s advice.
“When you’re asked to sit on a committee like this, you often wonder, ‘Are they really going to take my advice?’ or, ‘Are they’re really going to hear it?’ I have no control about whether or not my advice is taken, but I do think that they’re going listen and I think that’s a really good sign,” she said in an interview.
Speaking at a Canadian Chamber of Commerce event in Ottawa on Tuesday, Charette said the advisory council won’t just be CUSMA-focused but will look more broadly at the Canada-U.S. relationship.
Charette said her mandate is to seek relief from U.S. tariffs, adding that Canada needs to “hold its nerve.”
“We could be facing some turbulence,” she said. “It’s not clear that we are going to go back necessarily to the beautiful tariff-free existence we had.”
Carney released a video Sunday morning in which he pledged to “never sugar-coat” the challenges Canada faces with the U.S., and argued that relationship has become a source of “weakness.”
Raitt said she will leave politics to the politicians but she still wants to see a positive relationship with the United States.
“‘I’m very much on the page of co-operating with the United States and maintaining a positive relationship, because I think it’s important for our country,” she said.
O’Toole said he agrees with Carney’s assessment. He said the Canada-U.S. relationship changed because the U.S. under President Donald Trump turned away from international systems it has benefited from and helped to create.
“If we can diversify, grow some new markets, grow some sovereign capabilities, some self-reliance in ourselves, then if things normalize with the U.S., all this other stuff will be gravy,” he said.
Poilievre told reporters Tuesday he believes Canada should head into the trade talks by pushing to create a strategic mineral and oil reserve to pressure the U.S. to maintain tariff-free market access.
“That is the leverage we have, and frankly, something that Prime Minister Carney should have been doing a year ago is making that point,” Poilievre said. “But in fact, he has squandered our leverage. All the leverage he had going in, he squandered by backing down on everything while getting nothing in return.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2026.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
