After dramatic week taking on Trump, Carney skips out on answering questions
CBC
Prime Minister Mark Carney had an eventful week that saw him try and reposition Canada on the world stage and host high-level cabinet meetings — but it ended with unanswered questions about what comes next.
Carney was scheduled to take reporters' questions after two days of meetings with his front benches in Quebec City — standard fare at these retreats. But moments before Carney was expected to appear, his news conference was cancelled.
An official cited the prime minister's schedule as the reason why.
Carney has not taken media questions since returning to Canada after a trip to China, Qatar and Davos, Switzerland, and in a week where he twice spoke out forcefully against U.S. President Donald Trump.
Carney's main interaction with reporters came Thursday evening, when he told a group trying to get answers on the Trump relationship that their questions were boring.
Boring or not, the stack of questions for the prime minister has grown over the week, including where the fractured bilateral relationship goes and what that could mean for trade negotiations.
Carney used the opening of the two-day cabinet meeting at the Citadelle, a historic military fortress, to respond to Trump, who had publicly warned the prime minister that Canada "lives" thanks to the United States.
"Canada doesn't live because of the United States," Carney shot back in a nearly 30-minute address Thursday that kicked off the gathering.
"Canada thrives because we are Canadian."
It was his second substantial address of the week. On Tuesday, Carney delivered a widely acclaimed speech in Davos, in which he laid out a frank assessment of the world order, calling out powers who use "economic integration as weapons."
On Thursday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was withdrawing an invitation for Carney to join his "Board of Peace" initiative for Gaza.
Trump also falsely claimed that troops from non-U.S. NATO countries avoided the front lines during the Afghanistan war. He said he wasn't sure the alliance would be there to support the United States if and when requested.
Carney didn't respond to those comments, but Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who was put up in his boss's place, said "you cannot rewrite history."
"We're proud of our men and women in uniform and we know the sacrifice they have endured," Champagne told reporters.
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