Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday said that eliminating trade barriers within the country would deliver greater economic benefits than anything US President Donald Trump could undermine through his ongoing war, as he made his case for re-election in the final debate before the April 28 vote.
He also termed Trump as a “biggest risk” to Canada, which came in the backdrop of his aggressive tariff policies and continuous assertion to add Canada as “51st state” of US.
Carney, who assumed office last month after Justin Trudeau’s resignation, has set a July 1 target to establish free trade among Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. He said the country’s long-standing internal trade barriers have stifled economic potential for decades and that a breakthrough agreement is already in place.
“We can give ourselves far more than Donald Trump can ever take away,” Carney said during the debate. “We can have one economy. This is within our grasp.”
Framing the US president as a threat to Canada’s sovereignty and prosperity, Carney said the country is facing “the greatest crisis of our lifetimes” and described Trump’s economic tactics as endangering the very existence of Canada.
He defended his government’s retaliatory tariffs against US goods, saying they are impacting Americans “where it hurts,” and signalled readiness to negotiate a new bilateral trade agreement with Trump’s administration immediately following the election.
“The biggest risk we have to face is Donald Trump. We’ve got to get that right,” Carney said. “I jumped into politics now because I believe I’m best placed to address what I called the Trump crisis in this perilous moment.”
Carney’s rise to leadership came swiftly after Trudeau stepped down amid declining approval ratings, rising living costs, and mounting public pressure. Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Carney won the Liberal leadership and became prime minister within weeks.
Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre sought to redirect voter frustration toward the Liberal government’s record, arguing that a fourth term would mean more economic hardship for Canadians.
“We can’t afford a fourth Liberal term of rising housing costs,” Poilievre said, accusing the governing party of hostility toward the energy sector. He pledged to roll back what he called “anti-energy laws, red tape and high taxes.”
But Carney used Trudeau’s absence to distance himself from the previous government. “It may be difficult, Mr Poilievre, you spent years running against Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax and they are both gone,” he said. “I am a very different person than Justin Trudeau.”
Carney’s leadership and combative stance against Trump appear to have resonated with voters. In January, a Nanos poll had the Conservatives leading the Liberals by 27 percentage points.
The latest poll released Thursday shows the Liberals ahead by five points, a dramatic reversal in just three months. The January survey had a margin of error of 3.1 points; the latest poll’s margin is 2.7.
Trump’s trade measures and inflammatory remarks, including a veiled threat to turn Canada into the “51st state”, have stirred a wave of Canadian nationalism that has boosted Liberal support heading into the election.
