CBC Panel Calls Carney Out For Getting Nothing While He Says Canada Is Stronger Than Ever

We are in a stronger position than we were when this trade war started 18 months ago.

Oh, so we're in a stronger position.Right.Let's look at that position comparison, shall we, folks?Today, Mark Carney claimed that Canada is in a stronger position than it was 18 months ago.A breathtaking statement.When tariffs have multiplied, concessions have piled up, the dollar hasn't improved, and Canadian manufacturing is warning of layoffs and lost investment.

Foreign media is now openly questioning whether this financial genius's strategy has accomplished anything at all.And even CBC has been acknowledging that with all of Carney's concessions, he's achieved absolutely nothing.Let's take a look.

As everyone knows, on Monday, the U .S.administration announced its intention to impose the latest in a series of unilateral unwarranted trade actions.And we're clear, Canadian governments around this table will do whatever it takes to defend and support our families, our workers and our businesses.Let's also be clear that we are in a stronger position than we were when this trade war started 18 months ago.

Oh, so we're in a stronger position.Right.Let's look at that position comparison, shall we, folks?Now, these are just facts.They are readily available on the Internet.We've compiled them into a single consumable chart so everybody can see how much of a stronger position we are actually in.

Here you are folks.So when Mark Carney took office back in March of 2025,this is what you see.So there was 25 % on non -Kusma related goods.So basically everything outside of the agreement.There was about 10 % on energy and potash and 25 % on steel and aluminum.

So that's what Mark Carney inherited.Look at where we are now.So we are up to.up to 35 % on non -Kuzma -related goods, 10 % on potash as has stayed there.We're up to 50 % on steel, aluminum, and copper, up to 25 % on passenger vehicles and auto parts.We're up to 25 % on medium heavy trucks and truck parts.

We're up to 10 % on buses, 10 % additional on softwood lumber, up to, it goes on.And now we have at the bottom, we have the additional threats of another 50 % tariffs on other industries, such as alcohol, dairy and other things.For Mark Carney to have the unmitigated gall to come out and say that we're in a stronger position just because Canadians are determined, that's really rich.What he's trying to say is, oh, I've been here for 18 months, so therefore we're in a stronger position.Despite the fact that I've done absolutely nothing and I am presiding over a economy that has been tariffed to heck and back by Mr. Donald Trump.Yet Ike proclaimed that I'm the one that can get a deal.

I'm the only one that can get a deal.I'm the one that can handle Donald Trump.We've heard all of these before, you know, elbows up and all this, all this stuff.So it's interesting that now Mark Carney is saying, well, you know, speaking with the president,and you know, we're, we're intensifying negotiations.Well, I just want to remind everybody, this is what Mark Carney said six months ago.

Who cares?I mean, it's a detail.It's a detail.I spoke to him.I'll speak to him again when it matters.I don't have a burning issue to speak with the president about right now.

Wasn't a priority.Canadian businesses were planning to leave the country.People were losing their jobs.Businesses were permanently closing, but Mr. Carney was trying to tell Canadians that, who cares?Who cares the next time I talk to Donald Trump?Who cares when we actually get a deal?

It's a detail.I don't have a burning issue to discuss with the president of the United States.You don't have a burning issue to discuss with the president of the United States.Meanwhile, you're the one that was campaigning on the fact that it was an existential crisis, the crisis of our lifetimes.what was going on between the United States and Canada.You have no reason to chat with Donald Trump, yet now you're trying to tell everybody, oh, okay, everybody, it's time to intensify negotiations, even though we haven't really done anything.

Remember only two weeks ago when he was asked about USMCA, Kuzma, and what Mark Carney was doing?

You've been spending a lot of time with Donald Trump.You had a long conversation with him on the phone at NATO.Big thumbs up.The cameras caught you doing that.One thing we've heard from the Americans is that if there's going to be a breakthrough on trade, it needs to happen at the leaders level.So do you think you've made any progress with the president when it comes to trade?

No, I'll keep you posted.

Where was Mark Carney this last month?At the World Cup.That's what he was doing.Not working for Canadians.He was at the World Cup.Thanks.

Thanks, Mark Carney.But let's get to CBC.because a lot of the panelists that are coming on CBC net right now aren't having it.They're not happy with Donald Trump, but they're also getting a lot more critical of Mark Carney because it's getting really hard to argue with facts.

So if the key leverage points that have been identified aren't available to the prime minister without enormous domestic blowback, how do you do it?

You go back to the table like they were prior to October of last year and exchanging proposals on what we want to accomplish in a comprehensive trade deal.It's not a case where we're threatening one another consistently.First principles, David.The United States has made it clear to the world that they are renegotiating every trade deal that they're part of, and that part of their toolkit is to have a tariff.The question is, how much of a tariff does Canada want to pay?We're not going to be able to get what we had expected in terms of CUSMA to have free trade on absolutely everything.

What's the number going to be?That is the negotiation that we should be having at this point in time.And I think that's a negotiation that Janet Charrette and that Dominic LeBlanc are seized with, quite frankly.Let's not let these 29 days go to waste because we're trying to figure out whether or not our premiers are going to have a fun fight at the end.I don't like this line of discussion whatsoever.Let's focus.

And those small and medium companies, they're not going to hang around waiting to figure out whether or not we can hold on for another three years of Donald Trump.They're going to make their decisions today.financially as to whether or not they're going to close up shop or move to the United States.These are serious matters.And we got 29 days to fix this.And I said, we make a good shot at it and forget about the rest.

Forget the noise.Stop making political points on this stuff.

Lisa Ray telling it like it is, get back to the table.And this is someone, this is one of the people that was appointed to this committee that was supposed to solve all this.this.Allegedly.We have all these committees.They don't seem to be doing anything.

Right?Wow.What a surprise.Liberals making a bunch of announcements and then nothing actually happens.And they're right.Carney government has not been sitting down with the United States in any serious way since before October of last year.

Carney acknowledge it, basically saying, who cares?Hoekstra acknowledge it.And the Mexican media has acknowledged it.They haven't been there.They haven't been there fighting for Canadians.They haven't been there fighting for Canadian jobs.

They haven't been there fighting for Canadian businesses.And as a result, these businesses are looking at the tea leaves saying, well, we need to make a decision now.And we're making decisions not for just right now, but for two to three years from now.So all of these businesses that have made these decisions, and this is why we showed the KPMG report the other day.It's frightening.They're not coming back.

They've already made these decisions.They've locked in.They've negotiated leases.They've negotiated permits.They're starting their standup activities in the United States.What's happening?

Mark Carney's already lost.

I just, to Lisa's earlier point of just getting to the table and getting to a good deal and accepting the tariffs, I think the use of threats may be part of the reason we get to that table with a better deal than we otherwise would have.Power respects power.Trump has shown himself consistently to not really respect when we make concessions, which we've made many and he has made none.We have to be able to show a little bit more spine here.It's deeply frustrating because these ties that bind our two countries together are being consistently weakened and in some cases unraveled by an idiotic president who does not pay attention to any logic or any briefings that he gets.And I don't trust dissent to do this.

Look through this guy's business career.He's a billionaire investor.Are we going to say that he's going to have these industries at heart, or is this just going to be a financial play for him and his friends in the inner billionaire circle around Trump's cabinet?I wouldn't want to bet on that as an outcome, personally.

So this is a NDP panelist, and he's leaning more to the left.And he acknowledges, look at all the concessions Carney's made.And he's actually got nothing.He says, Oh, I think we should be making threats.Like, really, really get to the table, make your threats at the table.And those threats are actually going to be serious.

It's not going to be full of smoke and mirrors.It's not going to be full of bravado.It's not going to be full of things, you know, to try and make you popular with the general public.You make your negotiating position at the table, no negotiating deal.has ever turned out well when you're trying to negotiate this and make threats in public.Doesn't happen.

It all gets done at that bargaining table.Trust me. I know.So when we're talking about, you know, making threats to Donald Trump and all this, it's, it's just idiocy in my, in my humble opinion.And then he goes on to say, well, are we going to trust a guy who's an investor and, and, uh, and he's just going to be benefiting like all of his, all of his investor buddies.You're basically describing Mark Carney.So you trust Mark Carney.

You trust Mark Carney to do that with all of his investor buddies around the world, but you don't trust this U .S.guy.I'm not saying you should trust the guy from the U .S., but you're using that same logic to trust Mark Carney.

That doesn't make any sense to me at all.

And Canadians see right through that.Benzie, look, I get Nathan's frustrations, right?I mean, you listen to what Jamison Greer said last week in Aspen, I think it was saying that, no, Canada gets no credit for any of the concessions they've done.They made bad decisions.They made a bad situation.You don't get credit for cleaning up your mess.

So even as you give things to them, as they make the demands, it doesn't even get you to even with them or barely get you to even with them.And, you know, as Nathan says, how do you trust them to do a deal when we saw the Gordie Howe deal was ripped up and changed this week?I mean, there's a whole trust issue there that even if you get through this crisis, another one could just be around the corner.Better.

Exactly, David, and this is the this is the conundrum.And I understand it is very tough.Mr. Carney has a very difficult balancing act.You've got premiers with competing interests.Understandably, I understand why Danielle Smith and Scott Moe are saying what they're saying.I also understand what Doug Ford, whose economy here in Ontario is deeply reliant on trade with the U .

S.Ontario alone is the number one trading partner of 17 U .S.states, as the premier is fond of saying.So this is we are a trade -dependent jurisdiction, and we need, you know, we want the Gordie Howe Bridge opened.We wanted it opened a month ago.

And, you know, we've, we made concessions to get it open.But to Nathan's point, I'm not really sure, what did we get for the concessions that we made?As you were saying, David, Jameson Greer said that in Aspen, that we don't get any credit for it.So why would we make any more concessions?I mean, why would we put booze back on our shelves?I mean, they don't, if they're not gonna be good traders, good, negotiators, then what is the point?

I mean, it is it is frustrating and we are our economies are entwined.I thought, though, that Mr. Trump may be saying that Canada, you know, we wouldn't survive without the US.I mean, it's easy to say that, I guess.I think Canadians are a lot more resilient and I wouldn't underestimate Canadians.We're very polite in this country, but we're also pretty firm.And I don't think Canadians like to be pushed around.

I don't care whether you're a new Democrat, a liberal, a green, a conservative,or whatever.I think that most Canadians will rally to their leaders, regardless of political stripe, faced with this kind of a threat.

All right, so, Mr. Benzies, this is the issue.These guys are either delusional, or they're gaslighting, or I don't know what.Some combination of those, plus something else.Canadians may not like it, but economically, No, we cannot survive without the United States.Let's get real.Over 70 % of our exports, which is what brings money into Canada, happens with the United States.

Over 70 % of trade happens with the United States.So imagine cutting that off.Imagine you have your paycheck coming in and it is reduced by 70%.Can you survive?People may say, well, you know, we just diversify.Oh, right.

So the non -economists are talking about Diversifying.The non -business owners are talking, but just diversify.It's easy.Well, let's see.We have two oceans on either side of us and you now have to try to figure out everything that all of these Canadian businesses used to ship by truck and rail.Now you have to change that to ship and air.

How long do you think that's going to take?How long do you think it's going to take to set these businesses up and how do you think that's going to work?when all of the rest of the world is now looking at Canada saying, oh, they're not in a great position.We have leverage over them now.And you know what's going to happen then?Those businesses are going to get squeezed even more.

their operational costs are going to go through the roof, and all these other countries that have been cheering Mark Carney on from the sidelines to go up against the U .S., but haven't done so themselves, like all his European buddies, they're going to swoop in and they're going to do whatever the U .S.wants in order to actually take our place in terms of those supply chains that Canada was responsible for initially.That's what's going to happen.

So for everybody saying, oh, well, you know, let's just let's just move on from the United States.We don't need them.Yes, we absolutely do.Whether you like it or not, we absolutely need them.Now, the US also needs us because that's a big portion of the economy that they rely on as well.This is where you have to use that leverage and this is where you have to get back to the table to actually do it.

Now, there's other publications out there outside of Canada, outside of the Conservative Party of Canada that are talking about Mark Carney and they're saying this isn't working.Check out the Wall Street Journal.Now, the Wall Street Journal, people who read that, they don't care about what side or what you believe.They care about making money.So whatever's going to make money, that's what they're behind.Mr. Mark Carney swept to power promising an elbows out or up stance against Trump.

President Trump's tariff threats and rhetoric vowing he would never accept a bad trade deal.Sixteen months later, Carney says he has avoided making a bad deal, but critics say it has come at a cost.A series of trade concessions to the U .S.that are beginning to add up.Some would say that would amount to a bad deal.

Carney has scrapped a digital services tax affecting U .S.tech companies, rolled back retaliatory levies, or retaliatory tariffs in other words, and halted streaming regulations opposed by American companies.Most recently, Carney agreed to hand over half of Canada's net revenue from the New Gordie Howe International Bridge to a U .S.-controlled fund for the first 15 years and give the U .

S.a say over some toll rate changes.An earlier deal said Canada, which paid for the bridge, would split the revenue with Michigan only after it had recouped the costs.Yet the retreats have done little to appease Washington.On Monday, Trump threatened a 50 % tariff on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods, representing about 5 % of Canada's U .S.

-bound exports, using a Depression -era law over alleged unfair trade practices.As the leader of an export -dependent economy, Carney is trying to walk a tightrope, yielding ground to secure tariff relief while attempting to retain enough leverage to protect Canadian sovereignty.The gamble is clear.More concessions pose political risks at home, but standing firm could mean economic warfare with a partner Canada can't afford to lose.Carney's experience mirrors that of leaders from Brussels to Mexico City, where preemptive compromises have failed to buy immunity from Washington's trade wrath.His dilemma is worsening.

Elevated uncertainty over cross -border commerce is dragging on Canada's economy, yet there is little domestic patience for surrender without U .S.concessions in return.Polling by Abacus data shows nearly 70 % of Canadians want Ottawa to hold firm in negotiations, even if it prolongs economic pain.Only one in five favours further concessions to get a quick deal.Most of Canada's concessions haven't required that Carney spend much political capital.

His approval ratings remain high, and a majority of Canadians still see him as the person best placed to navigate trade turbulence.But Carney has a few good options going forward, according to trade experts.Quote, Will more concessions from Canada get the U .I'mI'm not totally sure it will," said Brian Clough, a former senior advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Canada has more than put water in its wine, but the Trump administration seems totally unsatisfied.

Janice Sharae, Canada's chief trade negotiator to the U .S., has said that the Trump administration has been pocketing quote -unquote significant concessions from Canada and that it would be important to see mutuality moving forward.But U .S.officials maintain that Ottawa's pullbacks don't warrant relief.

Quote, they really don't get credit for doing something bad and then undoing it.End quote.U .S.Trade Representative Jameson Greer said last week at the Aspen Security Forum.Quote, it's just good practice on their part.

End quote.Trump's tariff threat could impact Canadian economy, but may be a negotiation tactic.Losing U .S.customers could lead to layoffs for companies that employ 10 to 200 people, workers that are the backbone of the Canadian economy.That does have ripple effects in an economy because if people are out of a job, they're not going to be spending.

Dennis Barbee, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said the tariffs would inflict serious damage on manufacturers, workers, and consumers on both sides of the border.Quote, these tariffs will raise costs, disrupt production, and make North America less competitive at a time when we should be strengthening our shared industrial base, end quote.So what does all this mean, folks?Well, what this means is that Mark Carney and the Canadian government, they've done something stupid.that irritates the U .S.

And then the U .S.says, hey, don't do that.And so the Canadians stop doing that.And then the Canadians are saying, well, what do we get in return for that?And the U .

S.'s point is like, well, you did something stupid.already had.We told you to stop doing something you were about to do.So that doesn't mean you actually get something back for that.And this is the silliness that is actually going on in the mainstream media because they're trying to say, well, Trump's the bully, Trump's the bully.Well, Canada is doing stupid stuff.

Canada was going to implement a stupid digital sales tax that the conservatives had as stupid, but Mark Carney from the beginning didn't say, well, you know, we won't do that if you do this.They just said, okay, we'll stop doing that.What did that say to Trump?said to Trump that he could just tell Mark Carney that I don't want this and I'll get what I want.That's what that said to Donald Trump, because it happened with the, with the tariffs way back in April before the election happened, happened that we reported on that Mark Carney actually took away and completely, completely undermined his whole elbows up and will match, you know, tariffs or Trump's tariffs with dollar for dollar tariffs.And, you know, we'll poke him in the eye and all this stuff completely back down from that digital services tax and You have the CRTC threat to triple the amount that the American companies were going to have to contribute to the news fund in Canada, trying to get more money into that to save our failing media, our independent, independent media.

And he just did the same thing on the Gordie Howe Bridge.So I don't know.I don't know what Mark Carney expects because you've demonstrated Donald Trump that whenever he tells you to do something, you're going to do it.So he's going to keep asking and you're going to keep doing it.This is the problem.So.

When you have this happening and you have the Wall Street Journal saying this is a bad strategy and Mark Carney, he's in a very precarious position becausetried now both things and nothing seems to be working, despite the fact that he's going to be the one to handle Donald Trump.And you have the manufacturing coalitions in Canada saying this is going to be disastrous for Canada if these tariffs come into play.And as we said on the live stream on Sunday, when you have Canadian businesses that are looking at this being drawn out over a longer and longer period of time, recall what the mold tool and die makers said in committee.And they're not alone in this mentality.This is basically everybody in the manufacturing and pre manufacturing business sectors, they're saying we need certainty.

The problem is, if the Canadian government doesn't give them certainty, they will go and generate their own certainty.And what that is, is, well, we can't count on to the Canadian government to actually get a deal done.And we're not going to wait for that to happen anymore.So we're actually going to just say, you know what, fine, you're going to do that, I'm going to move my manufacturing to the United States, I'm going to actually have some certainty there, because there are no tariffs there.And my business is going to trade with the American businesses that it is now, except now I don't have to pay any tariffs, because everything's going to be across the border.And the Americans make it far easier to set up a business to run a business and to get permits for a business than the Canadian government does.

So I've had enough, I'm going to go and get my certainty.And in the end, what is this going to do?Canadians are starting to wake up.We're starting to see these comments on these articles from previously pro -Carney people.They're starting to see that Mark Carney isn't who is advertised, and they're starting to speak out against it.And we're starting to see this in the polls as well as they continue to tighten.

So this is the slow trend that we've been waiting for, I think, folks.Cross our fingers in that Canadians across the country are finallyfinally starting to wake up.