TORONTO — The head of a controversial right-wing American think tank dropped off the list of speakers who were set to brief Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet behind closed doors Thursday.
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, was on the list of speakers tapped to address cabinet during a session about striking a new economic and security relationship with the United States.
Roberts' inclusion on the list drew strong criticism online on Wednesday.
Just before cabinet ministers were about to address the media Thursday morning, the Prime Minister's Office said Roberts' team said he would no longer be coming to speak.
The PMO offered no reason for Roberts' withdrawal.
The Heritage Foundation said only that Roberts was unable to attend and would instead be working in Washington on Thursday.
Through an unsigned note sent to media, Carney's spokespeople said the prime minister and his team will engage in discussions with Roberts and other "leading U.S. policy figures" soon.
The Heritage Foundation is a prominent force in Republican politics and highly influential in the senior ranks of the party. The think tank authored Project 2025, a manifesto of ultraconservative policy proposals published ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration.
Project 2025 proposes ways to block abortion access and gut the U.S. civil service. The plan became politically toxic during the 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign and was the target of persistent attacks by Democrats — leading Trump to distance himself from the document during the campaign.
Since then, some of people who contributed to the Project 2025 document have joined the Trump administration, including White House Border Czar Tom Homan and U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra.
Supriya Dwivedi, who served as an official in former prime minister Justin Trudeau's office, told The Canadian Press on Wednesday evening that Roberts' invitation would offend progressives and was not a good way to "rally the troops."
"Any Liberal government should not be inviting folks to speak to cabinet where literally their goal is to roll back basic rights for gay people and for women, let alone minorities," she said.
Ministers heard from a wide range of speakers during their cabinet retreat on Wednesday and Thursday in Toronto, where they discussed their approach to Trump's trade war and preparations for the coming review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, scheduled for next year.
When a reporter asked Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne Thursday morning if he felt comfortable with Roberts' participation in the cabinet retreat, the minister said it's good to hear from a range of voices.
"Listen, we invite different guests to come to our events," he said. "We wanted to hear a different perspective. When you invite international guests, sometimes, you know, scheduling issues, things change."
Champagne was the only minister who spoke about the invitation to Roberts on Thursday.
— With files from Craig Lord in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2025.
Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press
