Save Our Auto Industry With Tariff-Free Auto Pact
Conservatives will build up our Canadian auto sector through a new tariff-free auto pact to make us stronger at home so we have unbreakable leverage abroad. The Liberal plan would be the end of the industry.
Windsor, ON – Today, in Ontario, the heart of Canada’s auto sector, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada, announced the Conservative plan to restore our nation’s auto production to 2 million cars per year, over the next decade, through a new tariff-free auto pact.
“Mark Carney is presenting a fantasy and dangerous illusion that we can replace auto sales to the US with EVs overseas,” said Poilievre. “The Liberal plan will mean no more auto industry in Canada. Conservatives will bring back good-paying auto jobs, grow production and make Canada a place where we can build the future of our auto sector through tariff-free trade with the US.”
After years of Liberal rule, Canada’s auto sector is in decline. In 2016, Canada built 2.3 million vehicles. Last year, that fell to 1.2 million, nearly half. Since 2019, output in Canada has dropped 33 per cent. Over the same time, production rose 4 per cent in Mexico and fell just 2.3 per cent in the United States. This decline happened while Mark Carney’s handpicked Finance Minister was the Industry Minister in charge of the auto sector.
After one year of Carney, things are worse. Vehicle output fell another 7.8 per cent in 2025. In the first month of 2026, exports of passenger cars and light trucks dropped 32.5 per cent from the month before. Exports of motor vehicles and parts fell 21.2 per cent to their lowest level since the pandemic.
As output fell, jobs vanished. In 2015, Canada’s passenger vehicle and light truck assembly plants employed 32,700 people. By 2024, that number had dropped to 23,732. That does not count the thousands of layoffs at GM CAMI in Ingersoll, GM in Oshawa, Stellantis in Brampton and Paccar in Sainte-Thérèse.
The problem is not weak demand. Canadians bought 1.9 million new vehicles last year. But Canada built only 1.2 million. Nine out of ten vehicles sold here were imported. Nearly half came from the United States. More than 800,000 American-made vehicles were sold in Canada, while Canadian output keeps falling.
Without tariff relief it will only get worse, as tens-of-billions of dollars of investment and thousands of jobs move south as factories are built and retooled in the United States.
That’s why today, Conservatives announced their plan to:
- Make it easier to build and buy Canadian by removing the GST on all Canadian-made vehicles, ending counterproductive Liberal EV mandates and subsidies, and harmonizing tailpipe emissions reductions with our North American partners;
- Bring home production through performance by implementing a rule where for every car produced in Canada, the same manufacturer would get to sell a car in Canada, duty-free, from a CUSMA partner, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, similar to the 1965 Canada–US Auto Pact;
- Protect North American supply chains by maintaining the minimum 75 per cent North American content and existing CUSMA rules of origin;
- Develop automotive security and technology by creating a harmonized North American cybersecurity and data standard, while banning vehicles using Chinese or Russian-connected software; and
- Stand firm against unfair trade by aligning with North American partners on Chinese tariffs if they accept this plan, for maximum leverage in CUSMA renegotiations.
This Conservative plan will secure tariff-free access to the US market, save and expand Canada’s auto industry. The Liberals have no plan to get rid of tariffs, which would be the end of automotive manufacturing in our country.
Realistically, there are no other equivalent markets for Canadian-made automobiles – less than 5 percent are sold outside of North America. That’s why we will use this proposed deal, and all points of leverage, to secure market access for Canadian workers.
“We will not sit idly by as our auto industry is hollowed out,” concluded Poilievre. “Conservatives are offering real solutions to save the jobs of our great Canadian auto workers.”