Conservative MP Jamil Jivani has been under fire for making a trip to Washington to meet with U.S. officials, including his longtime friend Vice-President J.D. Vance along with President Donald Trump.

Jivani also met with a U.S. trade representative to discuss ongoing tensions between the riding, something that impacts the auto sector in his Bowmanville-Oshawa North riding.

On Thursday's Rebel Roundup livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Tamara Ugolini reacted to comments from Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, who was critical of the Conservative's trip south.

Jivani leveraged his connections in Washington in an effort to “smooth the waters,” stated Tamara, slamming the Liberals for continuing to dump more gasoline on “this massive dumpster fire of trade talks” between the two countries.

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Tamara suggested the Liberals could have prevented the issue altogether, had they “taken action” and addressed Canada's lax enforcement of drug, border and immigration issues.

Before he even left, Jivani said he would be smeared for trying to stand up for his constituents, noted Sheila. “And what exactly happened? Exactly that,” she said, highlighting how they claimed he defended Trump's tariffs and even attacked him for his physical appearance. 

“Not only could they not attack him on the substance of what he was doing, they had to make things up and then call him ugly,” she said. “These people are a national embarrassment,” replied Tamara.

A real “united Canada approach” to negotiations would have included “different people,” Sheila said, suggesting the Liberals could have built a coalition that featured people like Jivani or Alberta businessman Brett Wilson in discussions. 

“They didn't do that, they built out this Elbows Up panel and wonder why it doesn't work.”