Amid a widening rift with US, Canada's ruling party banking on highly-skilled technocrat Mark Carney

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00And for more, let's cross to the Canadian capital, Geneviève Tellier is professor at

00:04the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Thank you for speaking with us here on

00:08France 24. Thank you very much for the invitation. So we knew Mark Carney on this side of the

00:15Atlantic because we remember him as the, even though he was Canadian, as the governor of the

00:21Bank of England having to navigate during Brexit. Didn't expect him to see him pop up

00:28as the new Prime Minister of Canada, were you? Yes, because his name was going around for a few

00:37months, I would even say years. So we knew he had some acquaintances with the Liberal,

00:42the Liberal Party, the party of Justin Trudeau. He was also a former governor of the Bank of Canada

00:47and he weathered the financial turmoil of 2008, 09. And afterward, when he left that position

00:55and went to England, he came back to Canada and we saw, starting his, seeing his interest

01:01on politics. And so it was a matter of time before he stepped into the political arena.

01:07Now to go and make that huge jump from a banker to a Prime Minister, this is something we have,

01:14we were perhaps not expecting. We were talking about being elected first as an MP,

01:20a member of Parliament, but that is a huge promotion, I would say. And then to see him

01:26there on this post today. What are the reactions to that? First member of, first Prime Minister

01:34who's never held an elected office before? Yes, we're kind of intrigued. And so we had some

01:41other figures that entered politics quite late, did not have a lot of experience in politics.

01:46Brian Mulroney was like that, our former Prime Minister. Stephen Harper also did not have a lot

01:53of experience in politics. But yes, for Mark Carney, that's kind of different. It is well

01:58accepted, I would say, because we are in very special times. And so because of what's happening

02:04with the Americans, we think that many Canadians think that perhaps we don't need a seasoned

02:10politician, but more a seasoned banker or someone that knows the financial and the economic market.

02:16That could be the advantage for Mark Carney. But for this special time, normally, I would guess

02:23that Canadians would be a bit more skeptical and don't really like to see outsider, maybe label as

02:30coming from the elite sector of society to enter politics. But this time it's kind of different

02:35because of the context that is also different. Yeah, because when Donald Trump had his first

02:41incarnation as U.S. president, leaders to his tariff threats reacted diplomatically

02:49and eventually kind of died down for the most part. This time, as we heard in that report,

02:56very offensive language from Carney, from Justin Trudeau. What's changed?

03:04Well, the second presidency of Donald Trump is so different from the first. And so

03:10Canada was not really the target the first time. The first time it was Mexico that was a target.

03:14And we work on a sort of collateral, in that sense, treat by the U.S. But this time,

03:24and we don't really know why, we are the first and main targets. And the menace is very serious.

03:29You don't know why? We don't know why. There is this fentanyl story.

03:34There's fentanyl crossing the border. We know it's not really true. It's only one percent of

03:40the consumption in the U.S. that comes from Canada. But this is kind of a pretext. And we

03:45don't really know why. And Canadians are very, very angry. This is what is different from the

03:51first time. In your clip that you show, we heard liberals booing when Carney was talking about

03:58Donald Trump. This is happening all the time across the country, each time that Donald Trump,

04:03his name is mentioned. And so there is kind of this unanimity of Canadians concerned,

04:09wondering why there is this treat for supposed to be the best partner on the planet. And we don't

04:16understand why that's happening and what we could do to reverse that. And that uncertainty is really

04:23the big issue here. So, Geneviève Thillier, you don't know why, but I'll bet you have a fearing.

04:28Well, as good as many other theories, I think it's a persona that wants to bring chaos and

04:36disturbance just to see if that could help his position. I'm not sure he's thinking quite about

04:43the long-term effect of what are his decision. In the first term, he was able to get out of that,

04:52not in so bad shape, but I'm not sure it will be the same thing that time,

04:56that time, because what he's doing to his own country will also be have a huge and negative

05:02economic implication impacts. And so we'll see about that. But I think that contrary to the

05:08first mandate, he doesn't have a team that could tell him maybe what he doesn't want to hear.

05:14And so this echo, this is the chamber, this sober chamber that's supposed to advise him and to tell

05:22him, well, yes, Mr. President or no, Mr. President, then this is not a good idea. We don't

05:27see that anymore. And I think that gives him the margin of maneuver to do whatever he wants.

05:32To do whatever he wants. Now, we don't know whether or not this is for the long haul or

05:38not these tariffs, but can the same be asked in the other direction? We've heard the Premier of

05:44Ontario, a conservative, slapping 25 percent tariffs on the export of electricity to certain

05:51U.S. states. Is there an element of bluff in that too? Not really, because there was a pause

05:59last week with the tariff on the automobile sector. And so the Canadian could have said,

06:05OK, we will pause also our own tariff. And nobody did that. In fact, I think that Canadians do

06:11support a stronger stance. And most Canadians would say, OK, we have started to impose some

06:17tariff. There's another phase that should come eventually. And we want that to continue because

06:23we don't want to be in this state of negotiation during four more years. It's going to be awful

06:29for our own economy, this uncertainty. And I think that Canadians in general want a stronger

06:34stance and show to the American that they need us. And if they are taking unilateral decisions,

06:41there will be some consequences about that. So you have Donald Trump on one side that

06:46says one thing and then back down. But in Canada, that's kind of the contrary. We have

06:52put in place measure and we stick with those and we want to go through them until all tariffs are

06:59lift from Canadian goods. And as you said, there's sort of a national unity on this issue

07:05in Canada. And since there's going to be a general election later this year,

07:11you're not going to hear anybody softening their tone between now and then. Mark Carney,

07:18he's from Western Canada. That's also a bit unusual for the Liberal Party. Does that help

07:24his chances come the fall or there's a lot of time to go and we don't know who's going to win?

07:29It helps him, but I'm not sure it helps him because he comes from Western Canada. I think

07:35that this renewed nationalism, patriotism that we see in Canada, we see it all across the country,

07:42which usually we don't see it too much in two places, Quebec and Alberta.

07:46And even in those two provinces, there is a resurgence of nationalism that we see.

07:51And so because of that, and because Mark Carney has lived in many places in the country and also

07:56abroad, he has this overview of unity in Canada, and that could help. But I think it starts from

08:03the base, from the grassroots, where everybody, even in Alberta, are showing signs of,

08:10okay, we are proud Canadians and we want to be united. And more and more we hear Canadians that

08:16usually would support the other party, the Conservative Party, now saying, well,

08:21you know, Mark Carney may be the guy that reunites us all, and maybe we should vote for him.

08:27You know, you're speaking to France 24, so I have to ask you, how's Mark Carney's French?

08:32Well, it's not bad. It could be better. We see that for his many years in Britain,

08:39probably did not have the opportunity to speak French a lot. That being said,

08:43I think he learned French in good schools before that. And so it's probably just a matter of

08:48practice. In fact, in the last few weeks, he has improved his French, so he's a bit more fluent.

08:53So I don't really have many concerns about that. That being said, we may have an election

08:59even next week. And so during electoral debates, will he be able to impose himself in French

09:05debates? We have good debaters in the opposition party. That could be an issue. But I think at the

09:11same time, Canadians overall, even French-speaking Canadians, will understand the circumstances,

09:17will understand that maybe he did not have a lot of time to practice. And so that may be the main

09:24issue. Although for some Canadians, maybe it's kind of an irritant, but probably no more than

09:29that. All right, Geneviève Tollier, so many thanks for being with us from Ottawa. My pleasure.

Category

Transcript

Recommended