Canada’s newly-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney wasted no time addressing the issue of President Donald Trump in his first speech to the nation.
At 60 years old, Carney takes over from Justin Trudeau, who stepped down last month after leading the country for a decade.
During his early morning speech in Ottawa on April 29, the Liberal Party leader emphasized: “Humility is also about recognizing that one of the responsibilities of government is to prepare for the worst, not hope for the best.”
He warned, “As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country – never.”
“But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us – that will never, that will never ever happen. But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally changed,” Carney stated.
This comes in response to Trump’s provocative comments about incorporating Canada as the 51st state of the United States, even mockingly calling Trudeau the ‘Governor of Canada’ before his resignation.
The 78-year-old Trump has argued that Canada ‘only works as a state’ due to American financial support, estimating US contributions at $200 billion annually. He did concede, however, that it could be the nation’s ‘greatest state’ if a union were possible.
Carney addressed this by saying, “We are over the shock of the American betrayal but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves and above all, we have to take care of each other.”
“When I sit down with President Trump, it will be to discuss the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations. It will be with our full knowledge that we have many, many other options than the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians,” he asserted.
Carney reminded the nation of Canada’s accomplishments through unity and added, “Now in the face of this crisis, united we are buying Canadian.”
“We are exploring everything this country has to offer, we are supporting our friends and neighbors in the crosshairs of President Trump, through a crisis that we did not create.”
He concluded by expressing confidence: “United we will win this trade war and build the strongest economy in the G7. An economy that works for everyone.”
The G7, or Group of Seven, is an informal coalition of seven leading economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US.