PM Carney declares U.S. ties now a 'weakness' in address to Canadians

lo_fye

It wasn’t a surprise to us. It’s how Canadians already feel. Threaten our sovereignty and that’s what happens.

CoastalCoder

My dear friends to the north: I just want to repeat how sorry many of us are for this.

calmbonsai

Good. Many Canadians view Carney as a "war-time" PM and I think that's accurate. The Trump administration has treated Canada and Canadians appallingly. It will take many years and another President, but I hope the U.S. can repair relations. The onus is on us. Canada honored its commitments. The U.S. started this stupid trade war.

CalRobert

Interesting that this comes as millions of Americans discover they have a claim to a Canadian passport thanks to recent rule changes. If they play they hand right (and maybe actually build housing) Canada could benefit from American brain drain.

jmyeet

For additional context: - Carney's Davos speech (Jan 2026) evoked "workers of the world unite" [1]; - Carney's pre-election speech (Mar 2025) claimed the old relationship with the US is over [2]; and - Trump's handling of Canada relations, particularly with the tariff frenzy, basically ended up giving the election to Carney [3]. This administration is busy destroying the relationships and institutions that the US created for America's interests like NATO. [1]: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-a... [2]: https://speakola.com/political/mark-carney-response-to-trump... [3]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ypz7yx73wo

darepublic

As a Canadian I feel like this country has some problems that contribute to the brain drain south. And I feel like Trump is definitely not our friend but the situation could have been helpful to stir us up to self reflection. But I fear that instead we will just try to recreate the former status quo by whatever means and call that a victory. But what it means is the inevitable decline of this country.

Teever

The speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk2TZwkhi4E First off, the difference in diction between PM Mark Carney and other world leaders is startling. Clear, cogent reasoning with rhetoric meant to impart on the listener that the speaker respects them and the presentation of an actual plan instead of just concepts of one is refreshing. Second. I've been finding it more and more difficult to communicate online with Americans or people who have succumbed to contemporary American-brained thinking. There's something corrosive about being surrounded by slurred, infantile thinking, it seems like even the most intelligent people will eventually succumb to it and regurgitate it back because they see it as the easy road and suffer no immediate consequences for doing so. It's extremely frustrating to see this come from American oligarchs who bend the knee to a mad king with a sexual penchant for young girls. To satiate their greed people like Sam Altman and Tim Cook align themselves with the worst of American society and unctuously flatter them with gaudy bauble bribes and obsequious speeches. Sure it serves their immediate purposes but what are the long term consequences of this? Do these people realize that every time they sell a piece of their soul to increase their personal wealth it destroys a piece of their society? Do they care? It seems like America is rudderless now, a living ghost shambling into an uncertain but terminal future. Other countries see that now and there's a strong 'if it bleeds we can kill it' vibe after watching America deplete years of missile stocks against Iran only to watch China begin to resupply Iranian stockpiles to provide the Americans with another opportunity to deplete years more. Where does America go from here?

youngtaff

And of course it's now flagged…

OutOfHere

It won't be long now before the US imposes sanctions on Ottawa and funds separatist movements across Canada.

beardyw

It takes much longer to regain trust that it takes to lose it.

bryanrasmussen

Oh, it seems this has been Canadian flagged for some reason. Probably somebody favoring another flag got upset.

vjvjvjvjghv

You can only hope that Canada (and Europe) will do more than just being mad at the US. From what I hear from Canadians, Canada is in a very bad spot with high cost of living but salaries that aren't enough to afford that. Complaining about the americans isn't going to solve that. Same for Europe. Stop focusing on Trump and start standing on your own feet.

senectus1

this conversation has to be happening all over the world right now.

throwpoaster

Canada and America are neighbours. It is far cheaper for Canada to ship things south into a giant market than to ship east and west into our own, smaller markets. Trading with anyone else in the world entails much larger shipping expenses. This is structural, and applies to something exceeding 90% of our trade. Carney is wrong, but he's not a fool. I read this as high-level virtue signalling to two audiences: Canadian left-patriots, who love to hate America while (unknowingly) free-riding on the benefits of the relationship. He has a vulnerable majority and is smart enough to plan ahead for the next election. Over half of Boomers support the Liberals, so he is playing to their emotions. He doesn't need to play to their pocket books, because they're mostly as rich as they're going to get, so he can trade economics for votes. Second: he's signalling to China, and other international trade partners, that we are open for business. Carney has been struggling with pro-China (former) members of his caucus also being pro-slave-labour[0]. This is a message that, as he indicated in his Davos speech[1], he is willing to be flexible on Human Rights if the price is right. America hasn't changed. When Trump is gone the American export market will remain. Carney is wrong, but he's not a fool. He's amoral. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFHgR4vAurg [1]: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-a...

dreamlayers

The biggest problem is that Canada shares a long land border with the US but is isolated by oceans from other countries. Having alternatives is good, but conflict with the US is dangerous. The US could do a huge amount of damage just by blocking trade with Canada. They're also capable of blocking trade between Canada and other countries, and occupying Canada. It is probably unwise to escalate conflict when the other side can escalate a lot more.

matheusmoreira

To be an enemy of America is dangerous. To be an ally, fatal.