He wasn’t on the stage but U.S. President Donald Trump’s shadow towered over the Liberal leadership race during Monday night’s French-language debate.
The candidates — former central banker Mark Carney, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, former government House leader Karina Gould and former MP Frank Baylis — spent much of the debate talking about the threat Trump poses to Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
Carney said that Trump has changed since his first term and is now more “isolationist, more aggressive.”
“Trump of today, he isn’t the same as before,” he said. “Before, he wanted a piece of our economy. Now, he wants our country.”
Carney said that the first step when negotiating trade with the Americans is to be clear about what won’t be on the table: supply management, culture and water.
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“We need to focus on what we can control,” he said. “We can’t control President Trump. We need to reinforce our economy immediately. It will reinforce …