By Prime Minister of Canada - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd3MmNeewd4 – View/save archived versions on archive.org, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=185956573
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada must rethink its economic relationship with the United States, warning the country’s longstanding reliance on its southern neighbour has become a vulnerability.
In a pre-recorded address released Sunday, Carney said the global landscape has shifted and Canada must adapt to a more uncertain and divided world.
“The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” Carney said. “Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses; weaknesses that we must correct.”
Carney said workers in key sectors such as auto, steel and lumber are under pressure from U.S. tariffs, while businesses are delaying investment amid ongoing uncertainty.
“The U.S. has changed and we must respond,” he said, outlining plans to strengthen Canada’s economy through expanded trade and energy infrastructure, increased clean energy capacity and efforts to create what he described as “one Canadian economy out of 13.”
He said the measures build on the government’s “Canada Strong” plan introduced during the 2025 election campaign, aimed at reducing dependence on the United States.
Carney also suggested some political opponents are underestimating the scale of the shift, saying there are those who believe Canada can simply wait for relations with the U.S. to return to previous norms.
“Young Canadians have experienced no such good days,” he said, pointing to a generation shaped by global crises including economic shocks and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The prime minister acknowledged his proposals are ambitious but said bold action is needed in a time of crisis.
“But in a crisis, fortune favours the bold,” he said.
Carney also invoked Canadian history, referencing figures such as Maj.-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock and postwar nation-building projects, saying unity and long-term vision have helped the country navigate past challenges.
He closed by urging confidence in Canada’s ability to adapt.
“We will get through this because of who we have always been,” Carney said. “It’s our country. It’s our future. We are taking back control, to build Canada strong.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the address, accusing the government of deflecting from domestic economic issues.
“The Carney Liberals have given us the worst food inflation, the worst household debt, the worst housing costs, and the only shrinking economy in the G7,” Poilievre wrote on social media.
Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman also took aim at the government, saying Canadians are more concerned with rising costs than long-term economic messaging.
“A family filling up a grocery cart in Saskatoon doesn’t need Mark Carney’s economic philosophy,” she said. “They need the bill at the checkout to stop going up.”
The address marks part of what Carney described as an effort to communicate more directly and regularly with Canadians as his government responds to shifting global and economic conditions.
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