Terry Newman: Has anyone told Carney he can do interviews with Canadian media? - National Post

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about the trade dispute with the United States at the Davie Shipyard in Levis, Que., on Aug. 24, 2026. Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV /AFP via Getty ImagesArticle contentEarlier this month, Prime Minister Mark Carney granted Bloomberg News an “exclusive one-on-one” sit-down interview. On Wednesday, he sat down with the New York Times at its Manhattan headquarters to discuss his vision for diversifying Canada’s trade. In both interviews, failed trade negotiations with the U.S. were discussed.

Notably, the same opportunity has not been provided to Canadian media. Instead, outlets here have only been given the opportunity to ask harried questions at short press conferences, and like our fellow Canadians, were recently spoon-fed a pre-recorded “Forward Guidance” video meant to reassure us, without specifics, that our PM had made the right choice.

Trade talks with the U.S. broke down on Aug. 21. Since then, we have been given conflicting information from U.S. representatives about the reason for the breakdown and not one sit-down interview from our PM.

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Carney granted a 15-minute sit-down interview with Bloomberg News’s Brian Platt on Sept. 14. While the purpose of this interview was to discuss the Canada Investment Summit taking place at the time, toward the end of the interview, Platt took the obvious opportunity to ask Carney about whether remarks made by U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting that the U.S. could reach a deal with Canada “fairly soon” were true.

Carney replied: “There is a mutually advantageous agreement that is possible between Canada and the United States … we’re ready to sit down and negotiate that and move it forward.”

To this, Platt followed up: “Is there a question of who moves first here?”

Carney cut off Platt before he could finish his question and replied: “No. There’s not a pride thing from our perspective. We’re practical people that know what our bottom lines are, what our red lines are, for sovereignty, for culture, not being restricted on our ability to sign other trade deals.… We’re ready to sit down. There’s no pride in this. We’ll do what’s right for the Canadian people.”

But Canadian media hasn’t been given an opportunity to sit down with Carney to ask questions that might test that claim.