Former UK and Australian Prime Ministers Johnson and Abbott praise Conservative Party’s strong polling in Canada, stress the significance of freedom

OTTAWA—Former conservative Prime Ministers Boris Johnson of the U.K. and Tony Abbott of Australia predict their Canadian partisan cousins are on their way to win the next federal election.

“It’s fantastic to be here in Canada, where we’re just seeing incredible sense that the Conservative Party is not only resurgent, but is poised for victory,” Mr. Johnston said on the opening day of the Canada Strong & Free Network 2024 in Ottawa on April 10. Mr. Johnston was leader of the British Conservative Party from and prime minister of the UK from 2019 to 2022.

Mr. Abbott, who was the leader of Australia’s right-leaning Liberal Party from 2009 to 2015 and prime minister from 2013 to 2015, shared a similar sentiment.

“It’s great to see the Canadian Conservatives looking like you’re on the verge of a great win,” he said. During the event, Mr. Abbott said the Liberal Party is the “conservative party in Australia.”

The conference organized by Canada Strong & Free Network, formerly known as the Manning Centre, is a networking session meant to bring together grassroots conservative Canadians and politicians from Conservative parties.

Freedom

The two former leaders emphasized the importance of freedom, stating that it is what conservative parties stand for.

We support the family, small business, and institutions that have stood the test of time, but above all else, as patriots, we believe that our country is the best place on earth to live,” Mr. Abbott said.

“We are the patriot party, and that is why if we are true to ourselves, we should be the natural party of government.”

Mr. Johnson also said that the value put on freedom is what sets conservative parties apart from others.

“The difference between us conservatives and our opponents is that every time their instincts are always about control and expropriation and coercion and taking your money and spending it on your behalf,” he said. “We are on the whole in favor of freedom.”

Ongoing Wars

The two former prime ministers said the West should continue to support Ukraine and stand by Israel in its fight against Hamas.

“What we need to do is keep supporting Ukraine … that, I believe, should be the conservative position around the world,” Mr. Johnson said.

Mr. Abbott agreed that the West needs to continue supporting Ukraine and said the country needs to be allowed to eventually join NATO.

“The only way that smaller countries can be secure against much larger and fairly aggressive countries is through collective security,” he said.

When it came to Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, Mr. Abbott said the conflict was resulting in the “world’s oldest prejudice, anti-Semitism” rising around the world. He also said there was a “kind of quasi-Marxism” emerging among many on the left, which “sees the whole world in terms of oppressors and oppressed and the Israelis have somehow become the oppressors, and the Gazans are somehow the oppressed.”

Mr. Johnson said that due to Israel’s small population size, if the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people in Israel had happened in the UK, it would have been the equivalent of many thousands of deaths. “What would any elected Prime Minister do in those circumstances? Of course, you have to find the people who did it, and you have to make sure that they can’t do it again,” he said.

Climate Change Policies

Unlike their views on the ongoing wars, the two former leaders’ views on climate change policies diverge.

Mr. Johnson said that while he used to be a “massive climate change skeptic,” he had since been convinced by scientists that there was a need to use technology to reduce global emissions. He said conservatives needed to show that the “green agenda” could also produce good-paying jobs.

“I want the Green Revolution, which means jobs and growth in the UK. I do believe that,” he said.

During his tenure, Mr. Johnson committed to net-zero goals and has urged current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to stay on the same course.

But Mr. Abbott said there was no “climate emergency” and warned that trying to remake the global economy to reduce emissions to zero by a set deadline was “folly of the First Order.”

“The green agenda has given us much higher power prices, and in the process, we have effectively de-industrialized by exporting most of our emissions-intensive industries to countries that are less fastidious about this,” he said.

“The truth is that everyone wants to save the planet; we have got the idea that we should impose massive costs on our citizens … it’s simply crackers.”