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Amid a widening rift with US, Canada's ruling party banking on highly-skilled technocrat Mark Carney
FRANCE 24 English
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3/11/2025
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00:00
And for more, let's cross to the Canadian capital, Geneviève Tellier is professor at
00:04
the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Thank you for speaking with us here on
00:08
France 24. Thank you very much for the invitation. So we knew Mark Carney on this side of the
00:15
Atlantic because we remember him as the, even though he was Canadian, as the governor of the
00:21
Bank of England having to navigate during Brexit. Didn't expect him to see him pop up
00:28
as the new Prime Minister of Canada, were you? Yes, because his name was going around for a few
00:37
months, I would even say years. So we knew he had some acquaintances with the Liberal,
00:42
the Liberal Party, the party of Justin Trudeau. He was also a former governor of the Bank of Canada
00:47
and he weathered the financial turmoil of 2008, 09. And afterward, when he left that position
00:55
and went to England, he came back to Canada and we saw, starting his, seeing his interest
01:01
on politics. And so it was a matter of time before he stepped into the political arena.
01:07
Now to go and make that huge jump from a banker to a Prime Minister, this is something we have,
01:14
we were perhaps not expecting. We were talking about being elected first as an MP,
01:20
a member of Parliament, but that is a huge promotion, I would say. And then to see him
01:26
there on this post today. What are the reactions to that? First member of, first Prime Minister
01:34
who's never held an elected office before? Yes, we're kind of intrigued. And so we had some
01:41
other figures that entered politics quite late, did not have a lot of experience in politics.
01:46
Brian Mulroney was like that, our former Prime Minister. Stephen Harper also did not have a lot
01:53
of experience in politics. But yes, for Mark Carney, that's kind of different. It is well
01:58
accepted, I would say, because we are in very special times. And so because of what's happening
02:04
with the Americans, we think that many Canadians think that perhaps we don't need a seasoned
02:10
politician, but more a seasoned banker or someone that knows the financial and the economic market.
02:16
That could be the advantage for Mark Carney. But for this special time, normally, I would guess
02:23
that Canadians would be a bit more skeptical and don't really like to see outsider, maybe label as
02:30
coming from the elite sector of society to enter politics. But this time it's kind of different
02:35
because of the context that is also different. Yeah, because when Donald Trump had his first
02:41
incarnation as U.S. president, leaders to his tariff threats reacted diplomatically
02:49
and eventually kind of died down for the most part. This time, as we heard in that report,
02:56
very offensive language from Carney, from Justin Trudeau. What's changed?
03:04
Well, the second presidency of Donald Trump is so different from the first. And so
03:10
Canada was not really the target the first time. The first time it was Mexico that was a target.
03:14
And we work on a sort of collateral, in that sense, treat by the U.S. But this time,
03:24
and we don't really know why, we are the first and main targets. And the menace is very serious.
03:29
You don't know why? We don't know why. There is this fentanyl story.
03:34
There's fentanyl crossing the border. We know it's not really true. It's only one percent of
03:40
the consumption in the U.S. that comes from Canada. But this is kind of a pretext. And we
03:45
don't really know why. And Canadians are very, very angry. This is what is different from the
03:51
first time. In your clip that you show, we heard liberals booing when Carney was talking about
03:58
Donald Trump. This is happening all the time across the country, each time that Donald Trump,
04:03
his name is mentioned. And so there is kind of this unanimity of Canadians concerned,
04:09
wondering why there is this treat for supposed to be the best partner on the planet. And we don't
04:16
understand why that's happening and what we could do to reverse that. And that uncertainty is really
04:23
the big issue here. So, Geneviève Thillier, you don't know why, but I'll bet you have a fearing.
04:28
Well, as good as many other theories, I think it's a persona that wants to bring chaos and
04:36
disturbance just to see if that could help his position. I'm not sure he's thinking quite about
04:43
the long-term effect of what are his decision. In the first term, he was able to get out of that,
04:52
not in so bad shape, but I'm not sure it will be the same thing that time,
04:56
that time, because what he's doing to his own country will also be have a huge and negative
05:02
economic implication impacts. And so we'll see about that. But I think that contrary to the
05:08
first mandate, he doesn't have a team that could tell him maybe what he doesn't want to hear.
05:14
And so this echo, this is the chamber, this sober chamber that's supposed to advise him and to tell
05:22
him, well, yes, Mr. President or no, Mr. President, then this is not a good idea. We don't
05:27
see that anymore. And I think that gives him the margin of maneuver to do whatever he wants.
05:32
To do whatever he wants. Now, we don't know whether or not this is for the long haul or
05:38
not these tariffs, but can the same be asked in the other direction? We've heard the Premier of
05:44
Ontario, a conservative, slapping 25 percent tariffs on the export of electricity to certain
05:51
U.S. states. Is there an element of bluff in that too? Not really, because there was a pause
05:59
last week with the tariff on the automobile sector. And so the Canadian could have said,
06:05
OK, we will pause also our own tariff. And nobody did that. In fact, I think that Canadians do
06:11
support a stronger stance. And most Canadians would say, OK, we have started to impose some
06:17
tariff. There's another phase that should come eventually. And we want that to continue because
06:23
we don't want to be in this state of negotiation during four more years. It's going to be awful
06:29
for our own economy, this uncertainty. And I think that Canadians in general want a stronger
06:34
stance and show to the American that they need us. And if they are taking unilateral decisions,
06:41
there will be some consequences about that. So you have Donald Trump on one side that
06:46
says one thing and then back down. But in Canada, that's kind of the contrary. We have
06:52
put in place measure and we stick with those and we want to go through them until all tariffs are
06:59
lift from Canadian goods. And as you said, there's sort of a national unity on this issue
07:05
in Canada. And since there's going to be a general election later this year,
07:11
you're not going to hear anybody softening their tone between now and then. Mark Carney,
07:18
he's from Western Canada. That's also a bit unusual for the Liberal Party. Does that help
07:24
his chances come the fall or there's a lot of time to go and we don't know who's going to win?
07:29
It helps him, but I'm not sure it helps him because he comes from Western Canada. I think
07:35
that this renewed nationalism, patriotism that we see in Canada, we see it all across the country,
07:42
which usually we don't see it too much in two places, Quebec and Alberta.
07:46
And even in those two provinces, there is a resurgence of nationalism that we see.
07:51
And so because of that, and because Mark Carney has lived in many places in the country and also
07:56
abroad, he has this overview of unity in Canada, and that could help. But I think it starts from
08:03
the base, from the grassroots, where everybody, even in Alberta, are showing signs of,
08:10
okay, we are proud Canadians and we want to be united. And more and more we hear Canadians that
08:16
usually would support the other party, the Conservative Party, now saying, well,
08:21
you know, Mark Carney may be the guy that reunites us all, and maybe we should vote for him.
08:27
You know, you're speaking to France 24, so I have to ask you, how's Mark Carney's French?
08:32
Well, it's not bad. It could be better. We see that for his many years in Britain,
08:39
probably did not have the opportunity to speak French a lot. That being said,
08:43
I think he learned French in good schools before that. And so it's probably just a matter of
08:48
practice. In fact, in the last few weeks, he has improved his French, so he's a bit more fluent.
08:53
So I don't really have many concerns about that. That being said, we may have an election
08:59
even next week. And so during electoral debates, will he be able to impose himself in French
09:05
debates? We have good debaters in the opposition party. That could be an issue. But I think at the
09:11
same time, Canadians overall, even French-speaking Canadians, will understand the circumstances,
09:17
will understand that maybe he did not have a lot of time to practice. And so that may be the main
09:24
issue. Although for some Canadians, maybe it's kind of an irritant, but probably no more than
09:29
that. All right, Geneviève Tollier, so many thanks for being with us from Ottawa. My pleasure.
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