Things between the U.S. and Canada are personal, tensions are high.
The new Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, made a bold and blistering attack on Donald Trump in a stirring affront to the president that only adds to the already blazing level of friction between the two countries.
A historic comeback
The Canadian parliamentary election has gone in favour of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Earlier this year, Carney took over as leader of the Liberal Party, having no previous political experience, and having spent his career till that point as a banker.
His party is now all but guaranteed to take power in Canada for the first time since 2006, an extraordinary recovery after the party narrowly avoided collapse just months ago.
Shortly after 10:00 p.m. EST, Canada’s national broadcaster CBC projected Carney as a winner over Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, and supporters erupted in cheers at a packed Ottawa sports arena, where the Liberals are celebrating their election night.
In his first speech to the nation, the Liberal leader, 60, didn’t pull punches, urging Canadians that a changing global world and their increasingly powerful southern neighbor were only going to put more pressure on them.
Carney told his supporters that humility is also a matter of recognizing that one of the things government does is to prepare for the worst, not hope for the best. “America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country – never, as I’ve warned for months.”
“We are not just talking idle threats.” “America will never, never ever be broke by President Trump, that we will never, that we will never, never, never ever own.” We must recognize however that our world has slowly changed but fundamentally.
Not backing down
The speech, a few weeks after Carney assumed authority after a decade of rule by former PM Justin Trudeau who now stepped down.
The tension between Trump and Canada is escalating by now. His shocking proposal was to make Canada the 51st state.
However, as the U.S. president took it further, it saw him mock Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as being ‘the Governor of Canada’, and that the U.S. is paying ‘$200 billion annually’ to assist Canada.
The resentment toward the neighbor, sparked by the ongoing trade war, and the tariff threats, has led to patriotism sweeping the country in Canada.
There are those among many Canadians who are canceling trips to the U.S., boycotting American products and even voting earlier than usual. A record 7.3 million Canadians cast their ballots before election day.
Mark Carney was clear that he stands his ground, and so does he, regarding remarks from Trump.
‘We were over the American betrayal,’ he said, ‘but we should never forget the lessons.’ ‘We have to look out for ourselves and above all take care of each other”.
Will call Trump
This was followed by the anything goes comment that any future sitdown with Trump would be on equal footing.
During my time with President Trump, it will be about discussing the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations with full knowledge of our many many other options besides the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians.
He also urged them to be unified [during] a national crisis and asked Canadians to stay strong.
“It’s now in the face of this crisis that Canadians are united and buying Canadian.” We’re touring this country from side to side to the end. “We are here supporting our friends and neighbors in the crosshairs of President Trump in a crisis we did not create.”
