Open this photo in gallery: Mark Carney, left, in Kitchener, Ont. on March 26, 2025 and President Donald Trump, right, in Washington on March 26, 2025.The Canadian Press Liberal Leader Mark Carney acknowledged Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump raised the issue of Canada becoming the 51st state in their private phone call last month, a fact that Mr. Carney did not mention in his original summary of the call. The two leaders spoke by phone for the first time on March 28 during the first week of the federal election campaign that ends Monday.
Immediately after the phone call, Mr. Carney had said the President “respected Canada’s sovereignty today both in his private and public comments” and had agreed to trade talks with Canada after the election. Since then, the President has mostly avoided mentioning his desire for Canada to be part of the United States and has not called Mr. Carney governor, a label he frequently used for former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau. However, Mr. Trump once again repeated his 51st state comments on Wednesday, which Mr. Carney said reinforces his own message that the Canadian election is about selecting a prime minister who can lead Canada during a trade crisis.
At a Thursday morning campaign news conference in Coquitlam, B.C., Mr. Carney was asked to comment on a Radio-Canada report, which cited anonymous sources, saying Mr. Trump did comment during the call on why he thought Canada should be the 51st state and that Mr. Carney had replied that they would agree to disagree. “The President brings this up all the time. He brought it up yesterday.
He brought it up before,” Mr. Carney told reporters Thursday, without describing exactly what was said during the call. After several questions on the topic, Mr. Carney clearly confirmed that Mr. Trump raised the issue. “I said that he did,” he said.
“He has these things in his mind. This is not news.” Mr. Carney said he rejected the proposal. “To be clear, as I’ve said to anyone who’s raised this issue in private or in public, including the President, it will never happen,” he said.
Mr. Carney said what is more important is that after he made clear that Canada would not agree to becoming the 51st state, the conversation then shifted to what should be done and both sides agreed privately and publicly to begin trade discussions after the election. “We don’t have to do a deal in the short term. We will do the right deal,” he said.
The Liberal Leader was asked why he did not mention on March 28 that the President had privately raised the 51st state discussion. “We talked about lots of things, and what’s important is the conclusions of the call,” he said. Throughout the campaign, Mr. Carney and the Liberals have attempted to keep the focus of the debate on Canada’s response to the United States on tariffs, while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said the key issue is the need for change after 10 years of a Liberal government that he said mismanaged key files and overspent.
Mr. Poilievre was asked by reporters in Halifax Thursday how he interpreted the call between Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump. The Conservative Leader said he wasn’t on the call, so it’s a question that Mr. Carney ought to answer. “What’s clear is we will stand up for our sovereignty, we will never be an American state,” said Mr. Poilievre.
“We will focus on what we can control.” Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet criticized the Liberal Leader’s explanation Thursday, saying it appears Mr. Carney’s original description of the call was not accurate. “I believe many people in Canada and in Quebec will say, ‘what the hell is that?’ And if that is not true, what else is not true?” he said during a campaign stop in Dorval, Que. After largely being silent on Canada in recent weeks, Mr. Trump weighed back in on Wednesday, saying the U.S. doesn’t want Canadian made vehicles and that Canada only works as a state.
Mr. Carney seized on those comments in his opening prepared remarks Thursday. “Just yesterday, President Trump repeated his attacks on Canada. He said he doesn’t want Canada, I’m quoting, to play any part in the American auto industry.
So I’ll be equally clear. This is Canada. We decide what happens here,” he said.
“Yesterday was more proof, as if any were needed, that the old relationship with the United States is over, and proof that we need to chart a new path.” After two days of campaigning in British Columbia, Mr. Carney addressed a rally Thursday evening in Winnipeg. It is the second time of the campaign that he has held a rally in Winnipeg, a region with eight ridings. At dissolution, the Liberals held four of those seats, while the NDP and the Conservatives each had two.
With a report from Stephanie Levitz
