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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is increasingly joking about U.S. President Donald Trump. Last Friday, while speaking to party members about an energy project, he imitated the president’s signature “accordion” gesture, and the video of that speech went viral. According to a CNN analysis, this is part of a broader shift: after a year and a half of trying to appease Trump, Carney has moved to irony. HORDON reports the main points of the situation.
"18 Hoover Dams"
Last Friday Carney delivered a speech to members of the Liberal Party, which he leads, and described a project that would represent the largest clean energy investment in North American history (the government announced the project in August). “This is about 14 gigawatts of capacity combining hydro, wind and energy storage systems — a volume functionally equivalent to 18 Hoover Dams,” he said, and repeated the president’s trademark “accordion” gesture, drawing laughter from the audience.
Carney didn’t stop there; he repeated the line about “18 Hoover Dams,” continuing to parody the U.S. president — and the audience erupted in laughter. The clip of that part of his speech went viral, and the joke made headlines around the world. In the same speech, while talking about effective taxes, he once again trolled Trump, noting that Canada is getting by without a “big beautiful law.”
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"All I got was a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter." Trump demands an investigation into "sabotage" at the UN
25 September, 07.11
Events
CNN 23 September published a detailed analysis of the relationship between Carney and Trump. The network’s journalists note: this joke is an example of a broader change in Carney’s tone, who apparently feels more comfortable mocking Trump. For example, in early August Carney mocked Trump after an incident similar to one Trump experienced emotionally last year during the U.N. General Assembly session. It involved a broken teleprompter, which so enraged the president that he even mentioned it during his speech at the U.N. GA podium.
“All I got from the U.N. was an escalator that stopped halfway up. If the first lady wasn’t in the best shape, she’d have fallen, but she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape. And then the teleprompter that didn’t work. Those are two things I got from the U.N.: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” the president said then and demanded an investigation into “sabotage” at the U.N.
Carney experienced a similar teleprompter failure at a press conference in Toronto 6 August. He then smiled at the audience and said, “I want to inform you that the teleprompter has stopped working. Unlike one world leader, I don’t see a conspiracy in this.” The elegant joke amused those present and the media engagement continued (without calls to investigate the technical glitch).
1 September Carney accused the U.S. of disparaging jabs at Canada and called for an end to producing memes. That comment was a reaction to remarks that senior Trump administration officials (including Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth) were mocking Canadian servicemembers in posts and social media comments, as well as to Trump’s signing of an order reportedly instructing that Lake Ontario be renamed “Lake America,” CNBC reports.
The favorable opportunity to negotiate a “mutually beneficial trade agreement that respects Canada’s sovereignty” with the U.S. has always existed and still exists, Carney said then. “When Americans stop making memes, taking shots and pretending to be tough, and instead start taking these discussions seriously — then we can have them,” the Canadian prime minister added.
During a speech to the European Parliament 17 September, after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested Canada become the first associate member of the EU, Carney made a pointed remark aimed at Trump. “I’m not proposing creating a third bloc to become another rival of the great powers, unless it has better manners,” the Canadian prime minister quipped.
How the U.S. and Canada arrived at an "ice age" in relations
Such rhetoric toward Trump and the U.S. from Carney — who took office amid a scandal about Canada being a “51 state” of the U.S., which was only then escalating — was not always the case. For the first year and a half in office he sought to appease Trump. CNN reminded readers: the U.S. president showered the Canadian prime minister with insults one after another, calling him “disgusting,” “ungrateful,” and even posting an AI-generated hockey meme showing Trump standing on the ice over an injured Carney shouting at him to get up. Despite this, Carney remained cordial and even gave up his seat during a G7 summit when Trump complained that his chair was “the lowest.”
In a situation “where trade talks have again reached a dead end, and relations with the European Union have evolved into an effective new alliance,” — the Canadian leader apparently decided not to continue the tactic of placation, and showed he can respond, CNN notes.
This phase in the relationship between the two leaders, while it may amuse the public, could actually signal another deterioration — an “ice age,” said Eric Van Rithoven, a political science professor at Carleton University who studies the role of mockery in international relations.
“The fact that the sitting prime minister openly mocks the president of the United States indicates a dramatically low level of relations,” he said.
However, Professor Asa MacKercher, who studies Canada-U.S. relations, is more optimistic in her assessment. She says Trump is always rude in dealings with others and believes Carney’s words are unlikely to cause harm. She recalled how Trump appointed critics of his to positions in his administration. “What’s done is done, a deal can be made, and relations can be repaired,” MacKercher concluded, speaking about Trump’s politics.
Trump’s volatility is also evident in his relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: Trump called him a “dictator with no elections,” then later denied saying it; their first meeting during Trump’s second term ended in scandal, and now the U.S. president praises Ukrainian heroism and says he has a good relationship with Zelensky.
In any case, Carney “did all the appeasing work” and it didn’t work, so another approach is needed, Van Rithoven conceded. Moreover, this plays to Carney’s advantage domestically — the Canadian public supports this approach, the expert says.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Премʼєр Канади перестав бути ввічливим і так тролить Трампа, що один з жартів завірусився. Чому це важливо". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
