Carney says Trump raised '51st state' during their call but 'the president says a lot of things'

Liberal Leader Mark Carney confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump did bring up the prospect of Canada becoming the 51st state during their March 28 call, while insisting Trump did show respect for the country as a sovereign nation.

"The president says lots of things, but the essence of the discussion and where we moved the conversation to, was exactly what I said," Carney said during a campaign stop in Port Moody, B.C., Thursday. 

Carney said that while Trump did bring up the 51st state, he chose, at the time, to describe where the two leaders ended their conversation, rather than giving a detailed blow-by-blow of the call. 

The Liberal leader said Trump's agreement to sit down and hammer out a new security and economic agreement with whoever wins Canada's April 28 election shows that the president is now prepared to deal with Canada on a nation-to-nation basis, despite his public bluster. 

"The president has certain things in his mind, that he reverts back to all the time," Carney said. "We had discussions as sovereign nations. We agreed as sovereign nations that these negotiations will begin after the election on Monday."

In March, when Carney was first asked to describe the tone of the conversation with Trump, he said it was "cordial" and "positive" and that "the president respected Canada's sovereignty today both in his private and public comments." 

At the time Carney did not mention that Trump brought up the 51st state again, but according to two sources with knowledge of the discussion who spoke with Radio-Canada this week, the issue of Canadian sovereignty was, in fact, raised in the first part that March 28 conversation.

Radio-Canada's sources said Trump used the call to explain the advantages of Canada joining the U.S. 

The sources said Carney let Trump speak before expressing his disagreement. At the end of the moment, described as "not easy" by one source, Carney said: "We'll agree to disagree on that one." 

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office denied that Carney responded with "we'll agree to disagree."

"No, the prime minister didn't say this to President Trump, and he was always clear on the fact that the possibility that Canada could be part of the U.S. is not on the table and never will be," the spokeswoman said in a French statement.

When asked Thursday if Trump respected Canada's sovereignty during the call, Carney said "he did, he absolutely did," noting that Trump referred to him as prime minister and not "governor," the term Trump used to describe former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

These developments come just days before the end of an election campaign in which the Canada-U.S. relationship has emerged as the dominant issue for many Canadians. For weeks, the Liberal leader has been asserting that he has the necessary experience and is best placed to stand up to Trump. 

"I've managed crises before," he has repeated on numerous occasions — again on Wednesday, when he was in Victoria.