Carney Unveils Canada-U.S. Trade Advisory Committee Featuring Charest, O'Toole and Raitt

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on April 21 a new Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations that brings together former politicians from across the spectrum, a roster of senior corporate executives, and representatives from labour and civil society. The committee, which holds its first meeting on April 27, is designed to feed directly into the federal government's preparation for the first mandatory joint review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, scheduled to begin on July 1.

The committee is chaired by Dominic LeBlanc in his capacity as President of the King's Privy Council and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy. Among its highest-profile members are former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, former Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole, and former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt, whose involvement gives the committee a visibly cross-partisan character.

Who is on the committee

In addition to the three former Conservatives, the committee includes senior executives from several of Canada's largest companies. Officials confirmed that the heads of Canadian National Railway, Bank of Montreal, Nutrien, Dofasco, TC Energy, Canfor and Teck Resources are among the business members, ensuring representation for energy, rail, banking, fertilizer, steel, forestry and mining. Organised labour is represented by leaders from some of Canada's largest private-sector unions, according to background materials provided by the Prime Minister's Office, though the full roster of labour members was not published.

The committee's composition reflects the geographic and sectoral spread of Canada's trade relationship with the United States. Roughly three-quarters of Canadian exports go south of the border, and the sectors represented on the panel are among the most exposed to U.S. tariffs and regulatory changes. Energy, steel, aluminum, autos, softwood lumber, agriculture and critical minerals are all expected to figure in the CUSMA review, and they are all represented on the Carney committee.

Carney's predecessor committee, assembled earlier in the year, leaned more heavily on diplomatic and academic advisers. The new panel adds several top-level chief executives who bring direct experience of operating in both countries and dealing with U.S. regulators. Officials said that change reflects the government's assessment that the CUSMA review will be less about legal architecture and more about practical commercial arrangements.

Why cross-partisanship matters

Carney, a Liberal prime minister with a majority mandate since April 13, chose to include three well-known Conservatives on his committee. That decision is a political statement as much as a policy choice. The government's pitch to Canadians is that the trade dispute with the United States is a national challenge that demands a response beyond partisan boundaries, and the inclusion of Charest, O'Toole and Raitt allows the Liberals to make that case visibly.

Charest, who served as Quebec premier from 2003 to 2012 and who sought the federal Conservative leadership in 2022, brings both political and legal experience from his subsequent work in international trade law. O'Toole led the federal Conservatives through the 2021 election and has since focused on national security and industrial policy. Raitt, a former federal cabinet minister with the Harper government, has worked in the financial sector since leaving politics and has been a consistent voice on Canada-U.S. economic issues.

Within the Conservative caucus, the decisions by Charest, O'Toole and Raitt to serve have drawn mixed reactions. Current Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is not represented on the committee, and some of his MPs have privately objected to former Conservatives lending their names to a Liberal government's trade strategy. Poilievre himself, during questions in the House of Commons, said it is the job of the opposition to hold the government to account regardless of who advises the prime minister.

The CUSMA review context

The advisory committee's main task is to help prepare Canada for the first joint CUSMA review. Under the agreement, the three parties must decide whether to extend the deal for another 16 years, withdraw from it, or enter into annual reviews that keep the agreement alive but under continuous negotiation. The review formally starts on July 1, though Canada's chief trade negotiator has described that date as 'a checkpoint, not a cliff,' suggesting that talks may run past the summer without causing the agreement to collapse.

The U.S. administration has signalled it will use the review to press for additional concessions on long-standing trade disputes, and possibly to reopen non-trade issues such as migration, drug trafficking and continental defence. Canadian officials are concerned that the review may become a broader renegotiation rather than a technical update, given Trump's openly transactional approach to trade policy.

The committee will advise Carney, LeBlanc and the negotiating team on priorities, trade-offs and red lines. Those conversations are expected to include how Canada handles 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, a continuing dispute over softwood lumber, and the treatment of Canadian content rules in the auto sector. Energy, dairy and digital services are likely to come up as well.

Economic backdrop

Canada enters the committee's work from a difficult economic position. Merchandise exports to the United States are running 11 per cent below last year's levels and roughly 17 per cent below the levels of December 2024, the final month before the broader tariff regime began to take effect. Inflation rose to 2.4 per cent in March on higher energy prices, the Bank of Canada has held its policy rate at 2.25 per cent, and growth in 2026 is projected at around 1.1 per cent, well below the pre-tariff baseline.

Employment is mixed. Layoffs have accelerated in steel, aluminum and automotive manufacturing, while services sectors have held up better. Ottawa's extension of enhanced employment insurance measures through October 10 reflects the severity of the impact in tariff-exposed sectors. Algoma Steel has announced 1,000 job cuts tied to tariffs and production shifts, the Metal Processing Group is shedding 140 positions, and communities such as Sault Ste. Marie, Hamilton and Windsor are particularly exposed.

Carney's broader economic message, set out in a video address released over the weekend, is that Canada's dependence on the U.S. market has shifted from a strength into a vulnerability. He has told Canadians the country must diversify trade, attract new investment, and build domestic capacity in key sectors. The advisory committee fits into that strategy by lending political and business weight to Ottawa's preparations for the toughest stretch of the trade dispute so far.

What the committee cannot do

The advisory committee has no formal legal status. It cannot direct the government's negotiating position, cannot sign or veto agreements, and will not see classified U.S. positions. Its role is explicitly advisory. That limitation is important because some observers have drawn comparisons to the committees that shaped Canada's posture during the 1987-88 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement talks and the 2017-2018 NAFTA renegotiation. Those earlier committees played important political roles, but final decisions in both cases rested with the prime minister and cabinet.

Critics from advocacy groups have said the Carney committee's heavy corporate presence may underweight concerns raised by small businesses, farmers, consumer groups and Indigenous rights holders. Ottawa has pointed to parallel consultation mechanisms, including regular calls with provinces and territories, a business round table, and planned public consultations through Global Affairs Canada. Whether those mechanisms fully compensate will be contested as the review proceeds.

Reaction from provinces

Premiers across the country welcomed the committee's formation while pressing for stronger provincial engagement in the review itself. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province carries the largest share of auto and steel exposure, said he expects a seat at the table. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith raised similar concerns for her province's energy sector. Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, newly sworn in on April 15, said Quebec's aluminum, dairy and forestry industries must be protected in any deal.

British Columbia Premier David Eby, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew each emphasised different priorities, from softwood lumber to potash to grain. The Atlantic premiers have focused on seafood and on the proposed federal investments in 5 Wing Goose Bay, which Ottawa has said could become a major NATO logistics hub. The Council of the Federation meetings over the next months will become an important venue for that intergovernmental work.

What it means for Canadians

For households, the committee's work will not change day-to-day costs immediately, but it is an early indicator of how Carney plans to manage the biggest external economic challenge facing Canada. If the strategy produces a meaningful new agreement with Washington, households could see tariff-driven price pressures ease over time. If talks break down, more pain is likely, with another round of layoffs in tariff-exposed sectors and potentially higher consumer prices on U.S.-made goods subject to Canadian counter-tariffs.

For workers, the committee's labour representation is a signal that Ottawa wants to keep job impacts at the centre of its strategy. That matters for unions such as the United Steelworkers and Unifor, which have pressed for deeper government intervention in affected industries and for policy measures that go beyond employment insurance relief.

For the provinces, the committee is a reminder that trade policy runs through Ottawa but that provincial economies bear most of the adjustment costs. That political tension will shape the review process from start to finish.

What's next

The committee holds its first formal meeting on April 27 and is expected to produce interim recommendations within weeks. Carney has signalled that the federal budget, expected later this spring, will reflect some of its early inputs, particularly on industrial policy and infrastructure investments designed to strengthen Canada's economic resilience.

In parallel, Canadian trade officials are preparing for initial working-level exchanges with their U.S. and Mexican counterparts in late spring and early summer. The combination of political advice from the committee, technical work by Global Affairs Canada, and daily engagement by Carney and Leblanc with U.S. interlocutors is intended to give Canada the strongest possible hand heading into the July 1 checkpoint.

With the economy slowing, layoffs rising and the U.S. review looming, the stakes for Canada are as high as at any point since the original Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement four decades ago. The advisory committee is one piece of Ottawa's response. The next several months will show whether it can help deliver an outcome that protects Canadian workers, consumers and businesses.