Carney avoids Parliament amid trade war; ‘Canadian politics’ not behind failure of U.S. talks, PM says; and more
- Prime Minister Mark Carney likened Canada's current situation to being "at war" over critical national issues and will be addressing the European Parliament, drawing parallels to William Lyon Mackenzie King's actions during World War II.
- Carney dismissed U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s claim that Canada's cancellation of trade talks was influenced by regional politics like the Quebec election and Alberta’s referendum.
- Concerns are growing over the Canadian government's unclear explanation of the failed U.S. trade talks, potentially impacting the prime minister's reputation for transparency following past controversies.
- A Deloitte Canada report warns that a U.S. withdrawal from the Canada-United-States-Mexico trade agreement would severely affect export-dependent sectors, though the overall economic impact would be serious but not catastrophic.
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“Prime Minister Mark Carney has suggested that Canada is ‘at war.’ Not a shooting war, but about as serious a business for the country’s future as anything in our history,” Zhu writes. And just like prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King did as the Second World War was breaking out, Carney is going to Parliament. “But unlike King, he will be going to the European Parliament.”
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“I don’t think, with all respect, appointed, unelected cabinet members in the United States are experts on Canadian politics,” the prime minister said in response to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claim that Canada’s reasons for blowing up trade talks last month had to do with the Quebec provincial election and Alberta’s referendum.
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Ivison says that Canadians should be concerned that their government’s account of the failed U.S. trade talks “is at best ambiguous.” He notes that “the public still trusts the prime minister, but his reputation for candour was dented by his version of the Gordie Howe bridge-funding deal and it may take further hits as accounts of how the talks broke down continue to trickle out.”
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A U.S. withdrawal from the Canada-United-States-Mexico trade agreement would have a “severe but not cataclysmic impact on Canada’s overall economy, although perhaps cataclysmic for some sectors,” according to the new report by Deloitte Canada. The report predicts that sectors that rely heavily on exports would suffer the most.
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“Essentially (Gulfstream) can’t sell any plane in anything having to do with Canada, but Bombardier has free rein over the United States,” Trump said while telling the story. He added that they both made “very good planes.”
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