Poilievre says he 'will be running against Justin Trudeau' no matter who leads Liberals

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he “will be running against Justin Trudeau” in the next election.

Speaking in Ottawa this afternoon, Poilievre said that, no matter who replaces the resigning prime minister, “they’re all just like Justin.”

“Liberal MPs want to elect another Justin Trudeau who has another face,” the leader of the opposition, surrounded by 13 Canadian flags, said.

He also name-checked some of the figures seen as likely contenders to lead the Liberals, including “Carbon Tax Carney,” “Carbon Tax Chrystia” and “Carbon Tax Clark,” whom he also referred to as the “Queen of the Carbon Tax.”

Poilievre said Trudeau should call an election immediately as the country projects “weakness on the world stage.”

“Put Canada first,” he said.

The Tory leader also responded to comments from Donald Trump about the US supposedly "subsidizing" Canada, saying Canadians are "ripping ourselves off" by selling oil to the Americans on the cheap.

Canada's trade surplus with the US, Poilievre said, is almost entirely down to oil, and the alternative to Canadian oil is "dirty dictator oil."

He also called for a North American energy market and referred to the "devastating" carbon tax as more damaging than Trump's threatened 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods.

When asked if he would accept an endorsement from Trump adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, he chose not to answer the question directly, but stressed he would like to see companies of the stature of Tesla investing in Canada.

Parliament has been prorogued – that is, suspended – until March 24 after the governor general assented to a request from Trudeau.

The Liberals are yet to reveal when their leadership election will take place.

The federal election is scheduled to take place by Oct. 20 at the latest, but since all the major opposition parties have said they'll vote non-confidence in the Liberals at the soonest opportunity, it's likely to come sooner.

Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Christy Clark, Melanie Joly and Karina Gould are among the prominent Liberals to have been mentioned in speculation about who might run in the election.

The Liberals are not doing well in recent polls, however, and have not led in a major poll for close to two years.

Surveys so far have not suggested that a replacement leader would boost the Liberals’ standing among voters ahead of the election.

But Trudeau, speaking on Monday, said another Liberal leader could "absolutely" defeat Poilievre in an election.