Liberal Leader Mark Carney was called out for misrepresenting his discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump after sources say their phone call involved further talk of Canada becoming the 51st state. Initially, Carney denied the topic was ever brought up during the call.
During the now famous phone call between the two leaders last month, Trump allegedly continued pressing Carney on making Canada the 51st U.S. state, contrary to Carney repeatedly telling Canadians that he respected the country’s sovereignty.
Sources with knowledge of their conversation told Radio-Canada that Canada’s independence was raised in the first part of the conversation, a subject which Carney allegedly concluded the two would have to “agree to disagree” on.
Trump initiated the talks of Canada becoming the 51st state on the March 28 call, and continued to make the case for its economic advantages, which Carney ultimately disagreed with, sources said.
However, this remains in direct conflict with what Carney told the public in a press conference following the call that same day, where he told the media that Trump had shelved his annexation rhetoric.
“The president respected Canada’s sovereignty today both in his private and public comments,” said Carney on March 28.
Both the Prime Minister’s Office and Carney’s campaign declined True North’s request for comment.
News that Carney misled Canadians comes only days before Canadians will head to the polls and after millions have already cast their ballot with advanced voting.
A major message of Carney’s campaign has been that Canada needs a tough leader who can stand up to Trump and U.S. influence, championing himself as the only person with the experience and credentials to do so.
That message has also been echoed by Chinese state-backed social media platforms such as WeChat, something that the government’s task force dedicated to securing Canada’s elections from foreign interference has been investigating.
Beijing’s coordinated online campaign claimed that Carney would be a “tough prime minister” to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump because he’s a “rockstar economist.”
Carney told supporters in Victoria, B.C. Wednesday that he’s “managed crises before,” and justified his recently unveiled platform’s enormous spending by saying that “we are in a crisis, the worst crisis of our lifetimes because we are in a fundamental reordering of our relationship with the United States and the global economy.”
Days before his March phone call with Trump, Carney said he would only speak with the U.S. president after he displayed respect for Canadian sovereignty.
“I’m available for a call, but you know, we’re going to talk on our terms as a sovereign country,” said Carney on March 24 in the early days of the campaign.
Following their phone call, Trump said that the meeting was “extremely productive,” referring to Carney as the prime minister of Canada instead of “governor” as he did to mock Justin Trudeau.
However, Trump has since renewed his calls to make Canada the 51st state.
“I have to be honest, as a state it works great,” Trump said. “Ninety-five per cent of what they do is they buy from us and they sell to us,” he said on Wednesday.