The Canadian Podcast

In two interviews at the end of the Canada-EU summit in Montreal, Prime Minister Mark Carney told DW News and Politico that Canada could sign a trade deal with the United States “this afternoon” but is prepared to wait for the next U.S. president if a deal is not in Canada’s interest. In this video from The Canadian, we go through both interviews and explain what each answer means. Carney also said that in many areas Canada will have deeper cooperation with Europe than with the United States, responded to the U.S. ambassador’s accusations of election meddling by saying “Canada’s the bear,” and explained why Canada will not depend on a single satellite or technology provider. We also cover his remarks on Ukraine, artificial intelligence, Germany’s objection to the term “associate member,” and his advice on how to deal with President Trump. Subscribe to The Canadian for clear analysis of Canadian politics and trade, and tell us in the comments what you think of Canada’s approach.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly responded to Cleveland-Cliffs’ reply on Stelco, saying her first condition is a plan to bring back the jobs, with a timeline. She said the company has not kept its job numbers and did the opposite of its promise to advocate for tariff-free access for Canadian steel, a double violation that she says gives Ottawa a very strong case. The episode also covers Prime Minister Mark Carney’s remarks on the Canada-EU partnership ahead of this week’s summit, and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on investment interest from the Gulf. Follow The Canadian wherever you get your podcasts for clear analysis of Canadian politics and trade. This episode is news analysis and commentary based on public remarks to reporters.

Prime Minister Mark Carney corrected a reporter who said he had promised to abolish the Indian Act, telling her “that is exactly what I did not say.” In this video from The Canadian, we explain what he said after the First Nations-First Ministers meeting in Ottawa and why the difference matters. Carney said he is very open to abolishing, reforming, or moving beyond the Indian Act, but only through a process co-developed with First Nations, and he defended the government’s approach to consultation. He also said that more on First Nations health care is coming in next week’s federal budget. Subscribe to The Canadian for clear analysis of Canadian politics, and tell us in the comments whether you think Carney’s approach is the right one.

In Istanbul, at the close of his first bilateral visit to Turkey, Mark Carney faced direct questions on the hardest Canada–U.S. files. He said there is no merit to repeated American claims that Canada is interfering in U.S. elections, and that he is disappointed the U.S. envoy treats those suggestions as part of his role. Canada, he said, is careful not to interfere and has no intention of doing so. On trade, he said Canada is ready to sit down this afternoon if the United States is prepared to negotiate in good faith, and that Canadian policy is not timed to the American electoral calendar. Pressed on 51st-state rhetoric, Carney stated that Canada will never be the 51st state, is going its own way, and is getting stronger. On reports of a Starlink slowdown affecting Ukraine, he linked real human consequences to a broader Canadian requirement: do not remain dependent on a single provider whose decisions can compromise security or values. Diversified partnerships and sovereign capability, including the new defence industry track with Turkey, are the response. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for the full exchanges and the sovereignty agenda.

Melanie Joly has sent Cleveland Cliffs a formal letter of demand under the Investment Canada Act. The government has determined that Cliffs and Stelco failed to comply with the undertakings that allowed the 2024 takeover of Stelco. Those undertakings included commitments to workers, to Hamilton and Lake Erie, and to advocate for tariff-free access of Canadian steel into the United States. Joly stated that Cliffs cannot champion American tariffs that harm workers on both sides of the border and then argue that market conditions have changed. Options on the table include forced divestiture of Canadian assets, financial penalties, and orders to respect the original commitments. The letter details the breach and the evidence. Cliffs has a short window to respond. Joly also rejected claims of foreign interference and, alongside the enforcement step, announced Canada’s Venture and Growth Capital Plan — public capital designed to help Canadian companies scale at home. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for the Stelco file and the industrial capital agenda.

Mark Carney and Doug Ford announced a nearly nine-billion-dollar federal-provincial partnership for Ontario’s steel, auto, and critical minerals sectors. Before the numbers, reporters pressed hard on Cleveland Cliffs and Stelco, on whether Canadian politicians had tried to influence American voters, and on when trade talks with Washington might resume. Carney was direct. Cliffs has obligations under the Investment Canada Act. The Industry Minister has written. The government will pursue all available actions, with workers as the first priority. On the U.S. embassy fact sheet, he rejected any suggestion of election interference: the United States initiated the trade measures; Canada responded to protect jobs and companies. Canada is growing employment and attracting foreign direct investment at roughly twice the U.S. rate. He confirmed he spoke with President Trump that morning and remains ready to negotiate a deal in the Canadian interest when the U.S. is prepared to sit down in good faith. The industrial package includes support for the Ring of Fire, steel mills in Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie, and auto assembly from Windsor to Woodstock. The goal is to defend jobs today, make more of what Canada needs at home, and keep expanding non-U.S. export capacity. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for the Stelco file, the trade talks, and the industrial builds.

Albertans have chosen Canada. Mark Carney called it a great day for the country and thanked the province for turning out to vote for unity, for building together, and for moving forward with purpose. His first conversation with Premier Danielle Smith covered support for the victims and families of the CFB Wainwright tragedy, then turned to the referendum and cooperative federalism. On the other ballot questions, Carney pointed to the government’s record on immigration control and said the next stage would be set with the provinces. Asked about the Constitution, he favoured practical solutions now, noted that constitutional change is difficult and long, and said cooperation on immigration can proceed without reopening the Constitution. When a reporter tried to reinterpret that answer, Carney stopped it and refused to let the position be rewritten. The result is clear. Alberta stays. The work of making the federation deliver continues. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for the unity file and what comes next.

Mark Carney rose in a quiet House of Commons and confirmed the scale of the tragedy at CFB Wainwright. Four members of the Canadian Armed Forces were killed. Dozens more were seriously wounded when a fire, driven by ferocious winds, jumped nearly a kilometre into a live-fire training area. He named them in full: Private Aidan Goulding of North Vancouver, Private Sean Farrell of Prince Albert, Private Hayden Luke Amar of Langley, and Sergeant Morgan Wong of Edmonton. He described the investigation led by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service with RCMP support, the care underway for the wounded, and the presence of ministers, liaison officers, chaplains, and mental health teams. Carney thanked Premier Smith and Alberta health workers, saluted the century-long record of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, and stated the central promise of the day: they were training to defend Canada; now it is Canada’s turn to serve them. In a few weeks, at cenotaphs across the country, more names will be carried. The nation, he said, stands at the side of the families — because in Canada we take care of one another. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for respectful coverage of this tragedy and the national response.

A violent, fast-moving fire swept through Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta. Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed that members of the Canadian Armed Forces lost their lives. Dozens more were seriously wounded. Next of kin have been notified. Carney ordered flags on federal buildings flown at half-mast. He thanked Premier Danielle Smith, local firefighters, air ambulance crews from Edmonton and Saskatoon, and the people of Wainwright who are giving blood, feeding emergency crews, and supporting families. Those affected included reservists and soldiers from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, a regiment with a record from the World Wars through Korea, Afghanistan, and peacekeeping missions. The men and women who were training on the prairie when the fire struck were preparing to defend Canada. Carney said Canada will now serve them: standing with families for as long as needed, supporting the injured through recovery, and ensuring the Canadian Armed Forces do not carry this loss alone. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for respectful coverage of this tragedy and the national response.

Mark Carney packed a Calgary hall under the Forever Canadian banner and delivered his strongest unity speech of the campaign ahead of Monday’s Alberta referendum. He said the vote comes at the worst possible time in a more dangerous and divided world. Albertans, he argued, can build a stronger province inside a greater Canada — or burden the next generation with years of division and uncertainty. He asked people to mark Monday, show the maple leaf, bring a friend, and vote like Canada depends on it, because turnout — not polls — will decide the result. Carney rooted the appeal in his Alberta upbringing and in the province’s record of powering, feeding, and defending the country. He acknowledged real historical frustrations with Ottawa, then pointed to the Major Projects Office in Calgary, Pacific Link and more than 140,000 jobs, housing, high-speed rail, defence investment, and rising farm exports. When he noted that the pipeline would reduce dependence on the United States, he added the line that drew a roar: careful, they might think that’s election interference; they’re a little touchy; we’re getting on with it. His close was simple. Let Alberta lead, not leave. Build up, not break down. This is our Canada. Let’s build it together. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for referendum results, the unity file, and coverage from a Canadian point of view.

Mark Carney is in Alberta in the final days before Monday’s referendum on whether the province should move toward a separation vote. He is appearing at Forever Canadian events in Calgary and Edmonton and making the case that Alberta is stronger at the heart of Canada. In a Global News interview, Carney pointed to his roots in Edmonton, listed major projects already under way — including Pacific Link, high-speed rail work, housing, defence partnerships, and AI — and warned that prolonged constitutional uncertainty carries real economic costs, drawing on the United Kingdom’s experience after Brexit. He rejected the idea that a West Coast pipeline is merely a political payment, framing it as a strategic gain for Alberta, British Columbia, Indigenous partners, and Canadian export independence. On foreign interference and U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra’s midterm accusation, Carney said the ambassador is wrong: standing up for Canadian interests is not election interference. He urged high turnout so Albertans, not outside voices, decide the result. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for referendum results, the unity file, and coverage from a Canadian point of view.

U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra has accused Canada of potential interference in the American midterm elections. He pointed to Ontario’s anti-tariff ads from last year and to Industry Minister Melanie Joly’s comments on possible countermeasures affecting politically sensitive states. The White House, he said, is monitoring the situation. Canadian and American voices have rejected the charge. Public trade advocacy and lawful countermeasures are not covert election interference. Critics note the double standard given President Trump’s own “51st state” and “governor” rhetoric during Canada’s last federal campaign. The more convincing reading is a scapegoat strategy: with inflation elevated and tariff costs visible to voters, blaming Canada is easier than defending the administration’s record. Joly answered the accusation directly. Canada does not interfere in U.S. internal politics and does not accept the same when it is directed at Canada. She described recent engagement with American governors and both parties as work to attract investment — commercial diplomacy, not campaign meddling. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for the midterms, the pressure campaign on Ottawa, and coverage from a Canadian point of view.

Donald Trump is campaigning on a simple claim: Canada has been ripping off the United States for fifty years. He mocks the alliance and casts a neighbour as the reason Americans feel economic pain. The mechanism runs the other way. Tariffs on Canadian goods raise costs for American importers, retailers, manufacturers, and households. Farmers are hurting. Some Republicans are distancing themselves. Democrats are tying higher prices to the trade war. Canadian tourism to places like Las Vegas has fallen sharply. A major union is mobilizing members against the White House policy its workers say they are paying for. This is the first time in modern memory that Canada has featured so heavily in a U.S. federal election cycle. One of Trump’s trade advisers warned Mark Carney not to interfere. The focus on Canada is still growing organically, and polls suggest a fight with a longtime ally is a losing issue. Carney’s government has refused humiliation as the price of calm, defended Canadian workers and industries, and avoided becoming a character in the American campaign. The economic record is what voters can see. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for the midterms, the trade file, and coverage from our side of the border.

Mark Carney used his Thanksgiving address to make a direct unity argument as Albertans prepare to vote on whether to remain part of Canada or begin a process that could lead toward separation. Speaking as a prime minister who grew up in Alberta and attended school in Edmonton, Carney said Canada is working again — with major builds including housing, high-speed rail, and a West Coast pipeline meant to create lasting opportunity in the province and across the country. He argued that none of that holds if the country divides against itself. You cannot build big things on fault lines. He placed the choice in a harder international context: threats to Canada’s economy, security, and way of life. In that world, he said, strength comes from staying together. Generations of Albertans helped build the country. It is theirs, it is shared, and it is worth fighting for. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for referendum week, the unity file, and the full record of what Canada’s leaders say when the stakes are national.

Layoffs have started at Stelco in Hamilton. Industry Minister Melanie Joly has given Cleveland Cliffs until the end of day Tuesday to respond to a formal federal letter. Ottawa does not accept the company’s position. Joly said the CEO has supported U.S. tariffs against Canadian steelworkers, rejected the claim that broken investment commitments are an “act of God,” and confirmed the government offered financial support that the company turned down. She framed the steel made at the Hamilton plant as part of Canada’s sovereign industrial base — capacity needed for defence, auto, and other strategic sectors — and said all options remain on the table. A twenty-one-year employee described his last day: an envelope, little notice, and a belief that Canadian orders still exist while slabs move south. Customers such as Honda in Alliston and buyers in British Columbia, he said, still want the product. A transfer to Lake Erie would wipe his seniority. He called the company’s posture blackmail tied to the wider trade fight. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for the Tuesday deadline, the next government move, and the full industrial file without the clipped headline.

Mark Carney was in Sherbrooke to announce a national heat pump and home retrofit plan — and he used the same appearance to answer Elon Musk’s suggestion that Quebec, Alberta, and Saskatchewan would be better off separating. Carney said the future of Canada will be decided by Canadians and by the priorities of the people of Quebec: affordability, social justice, a strong Quebec inside a strong Canada, and the right to live according to our languages and culture — free from interference by foreign governments and large tech firms. On policy, the government is putting more than $2 billion behind upgrades for over one million homes, with further support for multi-unit buildings. Full uptake could save families more than $1 billion a year on energy bills and cut more than 25 megatonnes of emissions. Heat pumps were framed as two to three times more efficient than the systems they replace, with typical savings of about $2,000 a year for households leaving oil and about $1,400 for those on electric baseboards. Grants, a simplified online portal, and stacking with provincial programs are meant to lower the upfront barrier. The visit came after a Quebec election that strengthened sovereignist forces. Carney’s message was cooperative federalism in practice: show up, cut household costs, and refuse external lectures on breaking up the country. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for major announcements, the unity file, and the full record without the clipped headline.

Question Period in Thanksgiving week turned into a direct clash between Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre over grocery prices, rent, and the dream of homeownership. Poilievre said the cost of a Thanksgiving meal was up about 10 percent and that Carney should be judged by prices at the store. He cited a Habitat for Humanity survey finding 56 percent of Canadians believe they will never own a home, argued rents have risen sharply over time, and said a government housing target of 500,000 homes a year has produced only a fraction of that output while starts fell year over year. Carney answered with the essentials benefit, tax cuts, and family supports. He stressed that he has been in office far less time than the opposition leader has spent in Parliament. He claimed rental and housing affordability have improved in every month of his government, that housing costs as a share of disposable income have eased, and that jobs and growth — including the fastest G7 expansion in the latest quarter — show the country is moving. The chamber was noisy enough that he had to fight to complete several answers. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for Question Period, the affordability file, and the full exchanges without the clipped headline.

Industry Minister Melanie Joly took a hard line in Question Period over Stelco’s layoffs and the pausing of manufacturing capacity in Hamilton. She called the news a gut punch to workers, families, and the community. She said she had spoken directly with Lourenco Goncalves of Cleveland Cliffs, the American owner of Stelco. Federal support was offered. The company turned it down, she said, even though the government remained at the table until the last minute. Joly stated that Cleveland Cliffs and Stelco have obligations under the Investment Canada Act and that Ottawa will use the full force of the law. She argued that Stelco’s product mix has been heavily tied to auto steel for the U.S. market, leaving it exposed under tariffs. The path forward, in her account, is building steel for Canadian projects, including pipelines. She pointed to new hiring at Tenaris in Sault Ste. Marie as evidence that pipeline demand can create Canadian steel jobs. She also cited changes to steel procurement rules and challenged the opposition to denounce the U.S. tariffs driving pressure across the sector. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for Question Period, the jobs file, and the decisions shaping industrial Canada.

The House of Commons returned to a sharp clash between Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre over Buy Canadian, federal procurement, LNG steel, and jobs in Hamilton. Poilievre accused the government of breaking its promise to buy and build Canadian. He cited reporting that the share of federal contract money going to American companies has risen sharply, and he attacked the use of Chinese steel on LNG Canada Phase 2 while Stelco moves ahead with layoffs in Hamilton. Carney answered with a project record. He pointed to major defence-related investment in Canada, cross-country builds with shovels already in the ground, LNG Phase 2 as one of the largest private-sector investments in Canadian history, and Pacific Link as a clear outlet for Canadian steel. He said Stelco workers deserve better from their American-owned parent and that the government will pursue those employment commitments to the full extent of the law. He also challenged the opposition to support legislation aimed at getting Canada building faster. Five exchanges. One fight over whether the government is delivering construction and Canadian content — or only promising it. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for Question Period, the build file, and the decisions shaping the country.

Mark Carney spoke by phone with a Canadian astronaut preparing to board the International Space Station. The crew member is inside the NASA quarantine facility, waiting for final clearance before launch. Once on orbit he will help manage the station, carry out repairs, and support the science program. In the conversation Carney held up the Canadian five-dollar bill issued while he was Governor of the Bank of Canada. The note is linked to Chris Hadfield’s time on the ISS. Carney used it to highlight Canadarm2 and the Canadian robotic systems that remain essential to daily station operations. Every spacefaring partner still relies on that technology. He described the image of Canadian hardware against the Earth as the real meaning of Canadian leadership — something the country does not merely claim but feels. The astronaut carries the maple leaf on his shoulder as he prepares for the mission. The call connects past national achievement with Canada’s continuing presence in space. Subscribe to The Canadian Podcast for clear coverage of Canadians on the global stage, major decisions at home, and the moments that show what the country contributes.