As It Happens6:39Catherine McKenna stands by Carney after Trump call controversy
While Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s opponents accuse him of being dishonest about the details of his phone call with Donald Trump, one former Liberal cabinet minister says he remains the candidate most qualified to deal with the U.S. president.
Carney confirmed on Thursday that Trump reiterated his desire to make Canada the 51st state during their phone call last month, a detail first revealed by Radio Canada.
This contradicts with Carney’s assertion on March 28, shortly after the call, that Trump “respected Canada’s sovereignty” during their conversation.
Carney has defended his initial statement, noting that Trump “says a lot of things” but, ultimately, agreed to negotiate with Canada on a nation-to-nation basis after the federal election.
His political opponents, however, are not convinced by this explanation.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poillievre called on Carney to explain what really happened on the call; NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh accused Carney of not being “straight up” with Canadians; and Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet described the call as “a stunt” designed to make Carney look like a great negotiator.
Catherine McKenna, however, is sticking by the Liberal leader. She served as minister of environment and then infrastructure under former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau, and has been out campaigning for the Liberals. Here is part of her conversation with As It Happens host Nil Koksal.
Is the Liberal leader being straight with Canadians about the U.S. president’s attitude towards Canada and towards him?
I’m not sure we’re focused on the main thing … which is Donald Trump has continuously said that he wants Canada to be the 51st state.
Mark Carney was clear that, in terms of the tariff issues … both countries will negotiate as sovereign nations. And I think this just highlights how important this election is.
I’m literally going of my own accord across the country because I am so concerned by Trump’s attacks, both on our workers, on trade, our economy, but also on our sovereignty. And we need someone who’s going to stand up to Trump. And I can be 100 per cent sure with Canadians — from everything I know, and I’ve known Mark Carney for 20 years, and I worked with him internationally — that he will stand up and defend Canada’s sovereignty.
There’s this idea that … it isn’t serious what Donald Trump is saying. It should be taken as dead serious. And that’s why we need a serious leader, an adult who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump. And that is Mark Carney.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, facing questions about a Radio-Canada report that said U.S. President Donald Trump made a ’51st state’ comment during their call in late March, confirmed Trump made the remark — but said the president had treated him as prime minister and they had discussions as sovereign nations.
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet [wrote on X] … that the 51st state issue comes back into the news, as he puts it, every time Liberals get worried, even if it means Mark Carney’s honesty is called into question…. Are you concerned that this kind of thing could turn voters off and turn them away from Mark Carney and the Liberals at this stage?
Unless I’m missing something, just yesterday, Donald Trump came out again, and he said [Canada should be the 51st state.] I don’t think he says these things to help Mark Carney in an election. He says them in private. He says it in public. His press secretary says it.
This is a serious thing. Like, this isn’t going away.
We have a lot of workers who have lost jobs. I’m originally from Hamilton, so they’re autoworkers. But we’re also talking about in Quebec, folks that work in aluminum. You know, he’s targeted lumber, so that is B.C. I mean, it’s across the country. This is the issue. And I can’t emphasize enough how when I talk to Canadians, they’re really worried.
So to make light of this and say that the Liberals are just bringing up Donald Trump, but it’s not a thing? I think we’ve seen over the past few months how disruptive he is willing to be.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that 25 per cent tariffs against Canadian-made cars could go up. He also expressed his desire to make Canada the 51st state after a period of relative quiet on his annexation threats.
That’s why we need a leader like Mark Carney, who not only can stand up to Donald Trump, but on a speed dial, he can call Prime Minister [Keir] Starmer in the U.K. He can call President [Emmanuel] Macron in France.
And to be honest — and I know Pierre Poillievre better than most, given that I took almost every question in question period from him — he’s not a serious guy. He works in soundbites. And on his speed dial, it’s [right-wing media personality] Jordan Peterson.
What would you say, Catherine, though, to voters — maybe even younger voters, in particular — for whom cost-of-living issues are very real and very worrisome at this stage? … What would you say to people who feel that Mark Carney doesn’t seem to understand how deep these issues are for them?
I also talk to young voters, and I have kids. And Mark Carney is talking about the issues that they’re concerned about.
He’s talking about massive mobilization and building affordable housing, like we saw after the Second World War.
He’s also talking about climate change. And I hear that a lot from young people, you know, who’s going to take action on climate change? Pierre Poilievre is literally going to destroy all of the policies that we have on climate change.
But what is really going to impact our standard of living and our costs is this trade war. People have lost jobs. They cannot pay bills. We’re going to see inflation probably as a result of Donald Trump’s action. He may be throwing the world into a global recession. And that is the immediate issue.
On the issue of experience and your relationship with Mark Carney — you’ve known him for a long time. You’ve talked about his experience and the phone calls he’d be able to make … should the party win this election. But what do you say to critics who say the fact that he has never held elected office is a problem here, especially at this critical time?
I never held elected office until I got elected.
But prime minister is a different thing.
[Poilievre] works in slogans and sound bites. He’s never had a job outside of politics. Like he has a pension for life.
Mark Carney has literally taken Canada through an economic crisis when he was governor of the Bank of Canada. And then he went to the U.K. [where] it was also bonkers. There was Brexit and he had to deal with that.
That’s the experience we need.
Interview produced by Kate Swoger. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. During this election, As It Happens has also spoken with representatives and supporters of the Conservative Party, the Green Party, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois.
