Pierre Poilievre will never be able to stand up to Trump, Mark Carney believes

In the final stretch of the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) leadership race, Mark Carney held a militant rally Thursday night in Montreal. He attacked the Conservative leader, presenting him as a politician who would have difficulty opposing the threats of the American president.

“You can’t change Donald Trump. And someone who worships him like Pierre Poilievre will never stand up to him. And someone who believes that Canada is broken will never put Canada first,” said the presumed frontrunner for the LPC leadership, in a speech delivered mainly in French.

“With him, everything will be on the table. Pierre Poilievre is the wrong person at the worst time,” he continued in front of a crowd of supporters gathered at Club Soda.

Merci Montréal.

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Thank you, Montréal. https://t.co/0GpxRuxqAk

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) March 7, 2025

The former governor of the Banks of Canada and England maintained that his career has prepared him to face this trade crisis with the United States, if he is elected leader on Sunday and becomes prime minister.

He also praised the federal government’s response to the customs duties imposed by Washington on Canadian products. A few hours earlier, Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend certain new customs duties on Canada and reduce levies on potash to 10 per cent.

Before he took the stage, Liberal ministers Mélanie Joly and Steven Guilbeault set the stage, also attacking the approach of the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, without always naming him, and contrasting it with that of Mark Carney.

“In Quebec, we don’t want to know anything about the MAGA tape. In Quebec, we don’t want to be a puppet of the United States. And in Quebec, we don’t want to be in the pay of the south of the border.”

“To defend ourselves against American threats, we need (…) someone calm, someone competent, someone who has a good temperament and who will be able to manage President Trump rather than imitate him,” said Joly before introducing the aspiring leader.

Activists interviewed by The Canadian Press said they support Carney because he represents “the right man for the job” against the White House tenant.

“With what Trump is doing, we need someone stronger and with a cool head. And Mark Carney, that’s what he embodies because he’s an economist, a very good economist, who has worked with the Conservatives and the Liberals,” said Gerry Fieldene, who presents himself as a former NDP activist.

During the campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party, Carney was criticized for his deficiencies in French, which showed shortcomings. In a press scrum Thursday night, Joly and Guilbeault defended his mastery of the language of Molière.

“Anyone who has paid attention to Carney’s French will see that he has made enormous progress. A number of his staff who accompany him only speak French to him,” Guilbeault said.

The winner of the race to succeed Justin Trudeau will be announced at an event in Ottawa on Sunday. The other candidates are former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, former House leader Karina Gould and Montreal businessman Frank Baylis.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews