OP-ED: Carney talks tough but delivers weakness for Canada
Sue-Ann Levy writes, "If I have to see one more tweet on “X” or post on Facebook from our Prime Minister reminding us of his plans to “build” — bold, big and now(!) — I will go mad."
Author: Sue-Ann Levy
If I have to see one more tweet on “X” or post on Facebook from our Prime Minister reminding us of his plans to “build” — bold, big and now(!) — I will go mad.
It’s been 120 days since Mark Carney was voted into office and he’s been on two vacations,
Parliament has not sat since June and won’t resume until Sept. 23.
In fact he was in office barely a month — enough time to put in a Cabinet — before he took off on vacation, only popping up to make various edicts as if he had a majority government and he’s the dictator of Canada.
For example, he was very proud about imposing retaliatory tariffs and his pushback on Israel.
The only thing these two things proved is that his judgement is terrible and his understanding of geopolitics even worse.
There’s been no budget and no accountability in Parliament. He’s essentially had a free ride from the legacy media.
His tweets have been as faux as the illusion he’s given to easily manipulated Canadians that he’s the only one to deal with U.S. president Donald Trump.
Despite his “Elbows Up” tough talk, he’s failed to build the most important relationship of all, that with our trading partner to the south of us and Trump.
It has been such a huge miss that he was conspicuously absent from this week's meeting of world leaders at the White House to talk about the eventuality of peace between Ukraine and Russia.
In the many pictures of Trump in what was called a historic meeting with the leaders — including his friends British PM Keir Sturmer and French president Emanuelle Macron — Carney is nowhere to be seen.
But to try to save face that day, Carney had a meeting with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a one-time Conservative who has had no problem abandoning his principles to stay in power.
The relationship between the two is extremely strange, although I suspect Carney uses the bombastic (and not too bright) Ford as his Trump attack dog.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-carney-ford-meeting-trade-uncertainty/
Listening to Ford, one wants to shudder.
He is constantly called on by CNN to rail on about Trump. Ford recently called him the “most disliked” politician in the world.”
This is a classic case of how to win friends and influence enemies.
You’d think there was absolutely nothing wrong with Canada’s economy or that the U.S. tariffs were not an issue.
But in an extreme exercise of poor judgment — and timing — Carney announced on July 30, just before the US tariffs deadline of Aug. 1, his intent to recognize a Palestine state at the UN in September.
And this guy is supposed to be smart?
Couldn’t he at least have waited until after Aug. 1?
Trump, who has been trying his darndest to stem anti-Semitism in the U.S. and to get a peace deal between Hamas and Israel, no doubt recognized the impact of such a move, in addition to rewarding the terrorists for killing 1,200 Israelis on 10/7.
Carney’s move — which followed the same support for Palestine by his friends British PM Keir Sturmer and French president Emanuelle Macron — emboldened Hamas to pull out of peace negotiations, undermining everything the U.S. had been trying to do.
So it is no surprise that Canada got hit with a 35% tariff on goods that are not compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement or CUSMA (while Mexico was given a 90-day reprieve).
Imagine this, Sturmer and the EU and many others have managed to reach trade deals with Trump or have had their tariffs put on hold (like Mexico) but Mr. Elbow’s Up can’t manage to do the same.
Is it because he’s incredibly narcissistic or incompetent or both?
To try to save face and knowing Conservative leader Pierre Polievre will be back on the job, Carney delivered an update Friday saying he was removing the retaliatory tariffs placed on the U.S. under CUSMA.
He also claimed that “Canada currently has the best trade deal with the United States” and that he’s been taking time to preserve jobs.
Right. He took his sweet time and it backfired on him.
Still, it would seem the only thing that drives Carney is the negative press he got about being left out of the Washington meeting this past week and the fact that Polievre will soon be holding his feet to the fire.
While Polievre is at it, I would hope that Carney is reminded he does not have a majority in the House and there will be no more of his autocratic, tone deaf pronouncements.
Oh, and that his Elbows Up B.S. has been a resounding failure.
Carney Liberals are an Embarrassment at an International level. No one can take them seriously. Their narrative is unsustainable.
Carney needs to Resign before Parliament resumes. Complete failure is just around the corner.