Canada Opposition MP Wants to Open Channel With Yale Buddy Vance

Article content

(Bloomberg) — Canadian opposition lawmaker Jamil Jivani attended Yale Law School with US Vice President JD Vance. He says that since his Conservative Party lost last April’s election to Mark Carney’s Liberals, he hasn’t discussed politics with his influential friend — just fantasy football and family. 

Article content

But as the relationship between Canada and President Donald Trump’s administration deteriorates, he says he’s about to get involved.

Article content

Article content

“After we lost the election, I decided to give Mark Carney time — I didn’t want to interfere, he’s got to build his relationship with the president and the vice president. He’s got to have his own strategy,” Jivani said in an interview at the Conservative convention in Calgary, Alberta. “Time has passed where we’re not seeing the results. And so that’s why I reached out to Mark Carney and said ‘Look, you want me to talk to JD? I will do it. Just tell me what you want me to say.’”

Article content

Article content

Jivani said he hasn’t been to the US for over a year, but will travel south of the border next week. He said he’s reached out to Carney and his cabinet but they have not taken him up on prior offers to help with the US relationship.  

Article content

Article content

Jivani has spoken in Canadian media about his friendship with Vance — calling him his “best friend from law school” — in the years since the vice president first came to prominence with his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy. He has said the two met at a wine and cheese reception and bonded over their “shared discomfort” with the refined surroundings.

Article content

Representatives for Vance and Carney didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Carney has not made any recent public comments about Jivani. 

Article content

A month ago, the representative for Ontario’s Bowmanville-Oshawa North told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. about his standing offer, adding that he didn’t want to “inject himself” and risk derailing a coordinated strategy. Since then, Ottawa-Washington relations have taken a turn for the worse. In January, Carney signed a tariff detente with Chinese President Xi Jinping and gave a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos in which he urged smaller countries to resist coercion by superpowers.

Article content

Article content

Though Carney didn’t explicitly call out Trump, the president attacked Carney’s speech. He threatened 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if the country “makes a deal with China,” and vowed extra levies and the decertification of Canadian aircraft in retaliation for a grievance about regulatory approvals for Gulfstream jets in Canada.

Article content

Jivani said his objective is to avoid sub-national Canadian leaders derailing talks again, pointing to a US commercial run by Ontario Premier Doug Ford during the World Series, which featured quotes from Ronald Reagan arguing against tariffs. Trump complained about the ads, and terminated trade talks with Canada.

Article content

“I’m not going to keep waiting forever,” Jivani said. “My constituents are concerned. I think Canadians are concerned.”  

Article content