The Canadian Conservative Party’s auto plan, unveiled earlier this month by leader Pierre Poilievre, was rejected on Tuesday by all other parties in the House of Commons.
While the motion centered on securing a tariff-free auto pact with the United States, it also addressed unfair trade with China, calling for alignment with American tariffs on Chinese goods.
It was sponsored by Kyle Seeback, a Conservative MP who serves as the Shadow Labor Minister.
The pact received only 135 positive votes — all from the proposing party — and was rejected with 193 votes against, from nearly all the other MPs, including the Liberal Party majority (164), the Bloc Québécois (22), the NDP (6) and the Green Party (1).
Canada Auto Sector
The Conservative opposition has introduced the motion in the House of Commons arguing that Canada’s auto sector is in crisis.
Last week, Poilievre reaffirmed that the decade-long decline in Canada’s auto manufacturing is attributable to successive Liberal governments.
According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales fell 3% to $68.7-billion in January, as motor vehicle sales dropped to their lowest level since September 2021.
The Conservatives flagged that “auto production in Canada has halved since the Liberals took office in 2015,” with a further 7.8% decline under Prime Minister Carney.
The loss of over 5,000 jobs and a 53% drop in passenger car and light truck exports were also mentioned in the motion.
“Unjustified American tariffs threaten to end our auto sector,” the Conservatives stated, while noting at the same time that replacing the US market is “a dangerous illusion.”
While the United States buys 90% of Canadian-made vehicles, the rest of the world accounts for just 1%.
Proposed Motion
The motion calls on the government to adopt the Conservative plan to double automotive production through a tariff-free auto pact with the US.
Key measures include ending what the party calls “counterproductive Liberal EV mandates and rebates,” and harmonizing emissions standards with North American partners.
The centrepiece is a dollar-for-dollar production-to-sales matching rule: for every car produced in Canada, the same manufacturer would earn the right to sell a car from a USMCA (CUSMA in Canada) partner duty-free.
Additionally, the pact vows to protect North American supply chains “by maintaining the minimum 75% North American content and existing CUSMA rules of origin.”
The final measures relate to the industry’s relation with international partners outside of North America, including China or Russia.
According to the Conservatives, the government should “develop automotive security and technology by creating a harmonized North American cybersecurity and data standard, while banning vehicles using software connected to China or Russia.”
In January, Ottawa signed a trade deal with Beijing that allows up to 49,000 Chinese-built EVs into Canada annually at a 6.1% tariff — down from the 100% surtax imposed in October 2024.
The Conservatives plan to scrap it, as they aim for the government to stand firm against unfair trade by (re)aligning with North American partners on Chinese tariffs.
Kyle Seeback’s Take
Speaking with CPAC on Tuesday, Shadow Labor Minister Kyle Seeback framed the Conservative auto plan as a revival of a proven policy.
“The old AutoPact took Canadian production from around 700,000 cars a year up to three million cars per year,” he said.
Seeback described the party’s proposal as a “modified version of the AutoPact” built around the dollar-for-dollar production requirement.
“Now, if that policy is extended to the United States, the same thing for the companies there, we believe that this will slowly increase production of vehicles here,” Seeback explained.
“It has the added benefit of reshoring some auto production in the United States, which is why we think it is attractive for the American president as well,” he added.
Selling the plan to Washington, however, remains a significant hurdle.
The US has shown little interest in renewing free trade with its North American partners — imposing country-specific tariffs on both Canada and Mexico last April, on top of a 25% auto tariff from which neither country was excluded.
Asked whether he was being “a little overly optimistic,” Seeback acknowledged the difficulty but said he doesn’t “underestimate the challenge of trying to sell this to the American President.”
The MP then laid out three reasons he believes the deal could appeal to the US.
First, market access, as “we are by far the United States’ largest export market for vehicles, and they’re going to want to protect that. It’s $27.5 billion worth of year of finished autos that come into Canada.”
Additionally, the auto pact pledges for a united front on China.
“We’re talking about if this plan’s accepted, we’ll align on things like Chinese vehicles, which the Americans are very much against,” the Conservative MP said.
The Biden Administration quadrupled in May 2024 the tariffs on China-made EVs to 100% — a move then matched by the former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Third, rebalancing production away from Mexico.
According to Seeback, “they export about 3.5 million vehicles a year to Canada and the United States. The one-for-one plan will actually rebalance that over time, which is why we think all of this makes it actually very attractive for the United States.”
US x Japanese Automakers
Five major international companies currently produce vehicles in Canada: the three Detroit-based automakers — GM, Ford, and Stellantis — along with Japan-based Toyota and Honda.
Under existing trade rules, these companies are allowed to import a set volume of US-made, USMCA-compliant vehicles into Canada without facing the 25% counter-tariff.
However, the landscape has shifted amid escalating trade tensions between the two countries.
GM has relocated part of its production back to the United States, leading to thousands of layoffs at its Canadian plants last year.
Seeback was pressed by CPAC on the fact that Toyota and Honda alone account for more than 76% of auto assembly in Canada, and asked whether the Conservatives’ focus was “off” by prioritizing relationships with US carmakers rather than working with the Japanese automakers.
Seeback rejected the premise.
“Yeah, it actually doesn’t focus on that, because the number one issue for both Toyota and Honda is tariff-free access to the United States,” he said. “Most of the vehicles they manufacture actually go into the United States, and they’re getting the same tariff challenges as the big three automakers are.”
He added that every automaker the Conservatives have spoken with has delivered the same message: “Auto manufacturing in Canada cannot survive at the 15% tariff, because that makes those cars unprofitable to go to the United States.”
Union Reaction
Days after Unifor criticized Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for not consulting Canada’s largest private-sector union before unveiling his auto plan, the two sides have sat down to talk.
“Unifor leaders met with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in Ottawa to discuss trade and the very real impacts on workers across the country, including in the auto and forestry sectors,” the union announced on X on Tuesday.
The union said they shared workers’ concerns about the auto pact and “encouraged Poilievre to adopt the union’s plan to protect Canadian jobs.”
Unifor’s National Auto Council Chair John D’Agnolo, president of Unifor Local 200 in Windsor, told CTV News earlier this month that the union had been shut out of the process.
“What was most frustrating is the fact that you think you [would] go to the experts that have to deal with it every day and sit down with our leader who’s been involved,” he said, adding that Poilievre’s plan would not be sufficient to cover the whole auto sector.
Conservative MP Kyle Seeback pushed back on the union’s concerns.
Asked about Unifor’s position, Seeback told CPAC he “respectfully disagrees with Lana Payne on this,” referring to Unifor’s national president.
“It will actually lead to an increase in production. We’ve talked to the auto producers about this. They agree it will do that,” he stated.
Seeback pointed to support from Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, and noted that “even some of the Unifor local auto manufacturers themselves think it’s a very good policy.”
Among them is Jeff Gray, president of Unifor Local 222, whose endorsement Poilievre shared on X last week.
“Finally a common sense plan to protect the livelihood of thousands of Ontario auto sector workers. A plan that restores past production levels and secures a long term future,” Gray wrote.
Chinese EVs
Despite the criticism regarding the lack of protection for auto workers, John D’Agnolo had said he was pleased to see the party take an interest in the China-Canada EV deal.
“We are nervous about China coming into our markets and then increasing year over year,” the representative admitted.
The Unifor leader said they’ve “been looking around the world when China gets into those markets” and end up “seeing a lot of layoffs.”
The union had previously argued that without domestic partnership requirements, Chinese plants would offer limited benefits to Canadian workers.
In January, Unifor National President Lana Payne said “this is a self-inflicted wound to an already injured Canadian auto industry.”
BYD, Chery, and Geely are all preparing to enter the Canadian market under the current quota by the year end.
Geely‘s CEO Andy An recently confirmed that the automaker intends to sell cars directly in Canada under its own name.
The company “will look to localize production,” An told Bloomberg last week.
BYD‘s Executive VP Stella Li also told Bloomberg the company is considering building a plant in Canada.
However, the Chinese giant insisted on fully owning and operating the facility itself, rather than entering a joint venture with local partners.
Ottawa has pushed Industry Minister Mélanie Joly to use the deal as leverage for Chinese EV joint ventures that would supply global markets from Canadian plants.
