WATCH: Poilievre targets Carney, defends Canadian unity at annual Stampede BBQ

CALGARY — Tory leader Pierre Poilievre took to the stage amid thunderous applause at the United Conservative Party’s annual Calgary Stampede BBQ and delivered a speech that invoked tradition as well as called for a renewed push for conservative political change in Canada.Speaking to a crowd of over 1,000 Conservatives — including Premier Danielle Smith and many other political figures — who gathered at historic Heritage Park on Saturday evening, Poilievre drew on his Alberta roots and emphasized what he called the “Alberta way” of hard work, community spirit, and self-reliance, while railing against the current broken economic system facing hardworking Canadians.“The people are doing their part,” Poilievre told the enthusiastic crowd.“They’re doing the back-breaking, gruelling work that they were supposed to do. But when the harvest comes, there’s a group of aristocrats that come along and scoop it up... A small privileged group of Liberal power brokers and sleazy lobbyists, getting rich, making others poor, taking without making. Ultimately, they get handouts and bailouts, and you get debt, taxes, and inflation.”.Poilievre repeatedly targeted Prime Minister Mark Carney throughout his speech, accusing the Liberal government of increasing taxes, debt, and government control while failing to deliver meaningful results for Canadians.“Liberals and the media expect you to judge Mr. Carney, not on his results, but on his many promises and announcements. But it's time to judge the results themselves,” Poilievre said.The Conservative leader also took aim at the federal government’s environmental policies, criticizing recent comments from Carney acknowledging Canada is unlikely to meet its emissions-reduction targets.Poilievre argued the Liberals had spent hundreds of billions of dollars pursuing climate policies while continuing to block major resource projects.“[Carney and the Liberals went] from claiming that oil and gas is going to end the world to claiming that you don't even have to meet your emissions targets at all,” he said.“It raises the question of whether he believed any of it in the first place, or whether the agenda was something else... Of course, it was something else.”Poilievre outlined a vision focused on lower taxes, faster approval for major projects, scrapping the carbon tax, and expanding development of Canada’s natural resources, which drew some of the loudest applause of the evening..He also pledged to strengthen border security, deport members of foreign criminal organizations operating in Canada, reverse the Liberals’ gun grab legislation, and increase military spending focused on operational capabilities rather than bureaucracy.“We will instil a warrior culture, not a woke culture,” he stated.One of the most anticipated topics of the Conservative leader’s speech was talk of Alberta’s upcoming sovereignty referendum, where he reiterated his support for a united Canada, saying that he and his party would fight “to win back Albertans through hope, not by wagging our fingers or lecturing them, nor by threatening them.”“We will be respectful to people on both sides of this debate. There are legitimate points of view to go around,” he said, adding that Conservatives must also be willing to listen to Albertans’ concerns.“We want to ensure that when this is all over, we will once again be fully united as citizens of a common land dedicated to a common purpose, restoring the promise of this country.”

WATCH: Poilievre targets Carney, defends Canadian unity at annual Stampede BBQ

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