Thursday April 23, 2026 | OTTAWA, ON [1:52 pm PT]
Political news analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has launched a new internal caucus to look for Canadian economic opportunities Asia Pacific region.
This seems like a tag-along effort to somehow be part of the federal government’s trade diversification work. But it could muddy the waters that Prime Minister Mark Carney hopes to gain for Canada in international trade markets — largely because outside of any country the opposition party and its leaders are not all that well known or their roles not that well understood.
This seems like an unhelpful side-swipe against what the government is hoping to do in redirecting Canadian export trade.
Chak Au, MP will chair the caucus:
A BC MP has been appointed to chair the Conservative Pacific Gateway Economic Engagement Caucus.
Chak Au, Conservative Member of Parliament for Richmond Centre—Marpole is now taking on the new role.
Today in a media announcement in Ottawa, Poilievre itemized that Au has in past years arranged trade trips to countries like Japan, China Thailand, Cambodia and Taiwan and that he has strengthened air links “between Vancouver and the far east to deepen economic ties”.
Au told media today that he is “humbled and honoured by the assignment”.
Caucus work:
The caucus is charged with the work to:
- Develop a comprehensive Conservative Strategic Plan for the Asia Pacific region;
- Develop policy ideas to maximize existing agreements, including positioning Canada as a major LNG exporter to Asia, identifying and fixing infrastructure gaps that are a major bottleneck to trade;
- Protect Canada’s security interests;
- Form a dedicated working team of Conservative Shadow Ministers, Members of Parliament and other subject-matter experts;
- Support planning for future Conservative missions to the region; and
- Publish your findings in a comprehensive report before the end of this calendar year.
Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Chong, and other members of the Conservative team will support Au in this work, said Poilievre in a statement today.
Au’s political background:
Chak Au is an interesting political choice by Poilievre.
Au is a first-time Conservative MP as of the April 2025 federal election. He continued serving as a City of Richmond councillor to February 1, 2026.
Chak Au ran as a BC NDP candidate in the 2017 provincial election, even though he had considered running before that for the BC Liberals (now the BC Conservatives) around the time that then BC Premier Christy Clark (nowadays back to aligning with the federal Liberals) was organizing an Asia Pacific trade mission.
Au said at the time that he was a non-partisan politician who “works with people”. He was quoted by the Richmond News in February 2017: “I was always open to try to see which group was more appropriate.”
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: CONSERVATIVE PARTY of CANADA | TRADE DIVERSIFICATION | TARIFFS & TRADE