By Max Sato
(MaceNews) – Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was sworn in Friday, vowed to protect his country from the threat of a global trade war initiated by his U.S. counterpart by exploring for new export markets and seeking a solution that would make both Ottawa and Washington happy.
“Canada’s new government is changing how we work so we can deliver better results faster to all Canadians,” he said. “We have new ministers with new ideas ready to respond to new threats and to seize new opportunities.”
Carney called his team “focused on things that matter most to Canadians: growing more higher paying jobs, improving affordability and making Canada more secure.”
The prime minister promised that his government will be “more action-oriented driven by a smaller but highly experienced team made to meet the moment we are in.”
The leaner 24-member cabinet, compared to the previous team of 36 under Justin Trudeau, has two priorities. Cabinet ministers, who were also sworn in Friday, will get to work on issues such as how and when to scrap a carbon pricing system that consumers have paid since 2019 on fossil fuels, one of his campaign promises.
“First, protecting Canadian workers and their families in the face of an unjustified foreign trade action,” Carney said about his priorities, a reference to the stiff tariffs on imports from Canada and other countries that U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed and is threatening to levy more.
“And second, growing this country by putting more money in Canadians’ pockets, by ensuring the government spends less so Canada can invest more,” he said. Ottawa will try to achieve this goal by “building millions of homes, by making Canada a superpower in both conventional and clean energies and by creating new trade corridors with reliable partners. He stressed that “negativity won’t win a trade war.”
Carney said he will be visiting Europe to meet French President Emmanuel Macron before heading over to the UK to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss new trade opportunities and regional security amid uncertainty over a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagnes is known to be business friendly. He represents Quebec, a key province together with Ontario that are important in the upcoming general elections expected to be called soon.
Carney’s predecessor Trudeau announced in early January that he was stepping down as leader of his Liberal Party and the country, a move that had been expected in the face of mounting pressure to quit from both the opposition parties and his own caucus. Trudeau prorogued (suspended) parliament until March 24, which bought his minority government some time to find a new leader who could unite the party ahead of the parliamentary elections.