Trade talks, a new French tutor, and Guilbeault's future: What we learned from Mark Carney’s end-of-year interviews in Quebec

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney sat down this week with two of Quebec’s leading television anchors to discuss a tumultuous year for him and for Canada.

The interviews with LCN’s Paul Larocque and aired on Tuesday evening and touched on everything from his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump to his difficulties with the French language — and why his last tutor left.

The anchors also pressed Carney on why Steven Guilbeault, who resigned from cabinet, will not be ejected from caucus despite his repeated criticism of perceived climate setbacks. And the prime minister revealed whether or not he would plunge the country into another election in 2026.

Here’s what we learned from Carney’s end-of-year interviews in Quebec.

Carney has lots of ‘esteem’ for Guilbeault, who will remain in caucus

The prime minister has no intention of showing the door to his former minister, despite his open criticism of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Alberta.

“We have some differences, but we have the same values, Mr. Guilbeault and I, the other members of the Liberal party at the federal level, in terms of the environment and the prosperity of Canada,” said Carney in his year-end interview with Paul Larocque on LCN.

Guilbeault resigned from cabinet on the same day the MOU was announced, overshadowing the announcement. Since then, he has been vocal about his opposition to the rollback of climate policies Guilbeault implemented when he was environment minister.

Asked if Guilbeault could stay in caucus, Carney said “absolutely, he can continue.”

“I (have) esteem (for) Mr. Guilbeault. He has done a lot for Canada and for the party.”

His French is ‘far from perfect’ and he wants to improve

By the prime minister’s own admission, he has some work to do when it comes to his mastery of the French language. But he claims to be practising whenever he can.

Speaking to LCN, he said members of his senior staff, like chief of staff Marc-André Blanchard, as well as senior ministers, like Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, are francophones and speak to him in French.

“What is clear is that my French is far from perfect,” Carney told Paul Larocque.

Radio-Canada’s Patrice Roy also pressed Carney on the issue, noting that the prime minister reportedly stopped taking private classes. Carney confirmed that and said that his French teacher had moved to British Columbia, so he had to find someone else to replace her.

Carney joked the loss of his French tutor was a “great scoop” during the interview.

“But I just found another one,” he said. His spokeswoman, Audrey Champoux, said the prime minister has another tutor lined up but the contract has not been finalized.

Carney believes his job requires him to travel as much as he does

Since he took office, the prime minister has been crisscrossing the planet — spending lots of time in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He has made no secret of his hope to sign more trade deals in order to reduce Canada’s dependency on the United States.

Does he need to travel as much as he does? “Absolutely,” he told Patrice Roy.

He said the issue at stake is not whether he enjoys travelling but whether he needs to.

“We need to travel because we need to make our country more independent, more prosperous and stronger. Canada has what the world wants. But we need to create agreements with the European Union. We did it with Indonesia, we did it with India,” he enumerated.

Carney also said his government had “settled” the commercial situation with China and is negotiating with other countries such as Thailand and the Philippines.

Last month, the prime minister wrapped up a visit to the United Arab Emirates with that country’s pledge to invest $70 billion in Canada as part of a bilateral investment agreement.

“That was the result of a trip,” he said.

Expect CUSMA to ‘change’ in the upcoming 2026 review

The next year marks the long-awaited review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement after Trump officials threatened to tear up the deal. However, Canadian officials have said they are confident the U.S. will ultimately keep CUSMA in place.

Asked by Radio-Canada’s Patrice Roy if the trade deal is in danger, Carney said he does not think that is necessarily the case. But he said he thinks CUSMA will “change” like all other trade deals and commercial relations with the Trump administration at the moment.

He described negotiations with this U.S. administration as “always interesting.”

Carney was also asked about Mark Wiseman, a close friend and financier who is widely rumoured as being his pick as Canada’s next ambassador to the U.S.

Carney said it was “not official,” but it is “a possibility.”

Wiseman’s nomination has been criticized by opposition parties in Ottawa but also the Parti Québécois because of his ties to the Century Initiative, which calls for mass immigration by 2100, but also Wiseman’s past criticism of the supply management system.

“I like supply management. I decide,” said Carney. “The next ambassador will be a member of the negotiating team. But the leader of the team will be me.”

Ma and d’Entremont approached his party — not the other way around

Carney is only one vote away from forming a majority government, now that former Conservative MPs Chris d’Entremont and Michael Ma have crossed the floor to the Liberals. And Liberal ministers have been hinting that others may follow.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said that he and others have been hearing from a small group of Conservative MPs that they are “extremely frustrated” with the leadership of their party and how they enjoyed the spring session, when Pierre Poilievre was absent.

As for Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, who reportedly brokered the deal to convince Ma to join the Liberal ranks, he said this week that he is “getting lots of inquiries.”

In his year-end Radio-Canada interview, Carney was asked if he has his sights on other Conservative MPs who could be tempted to jump ship and give him a majority.

“That was the decision of the individuals, Mr. d’Entremont and Mr. Ma. They made their decision, they approached us,” he said. “So it wasn’t me, I’m not searching (for that).”

Should Carney fail to get a majority, could he be tempted to call an election in the spring?

“No, I don’t want to,” he said. “I want Parliament to work.”

The Carney family will be relaxing in Ottawa during the holidays

Usually very protective about his family, Carney opened up a little when asked by LCN’s Paul Larocque what his plans were with his loved ones during the holiday season.

Carney said it would be a “first break” for him and his family after an extremely busy year that saw him swept up in a leadership race and suddenly becoming prime minister.

“We have four children and all my children will be coming back to Ottawa,” he said.

Carney and his wife Diana Fox Carney are runners and very active in general, so it comes as no surprise that they will be enjoying winter sports as a family. The prime minister said they will likely be cross-country skiing and skating, but there will be lots of eating and relaxing as well.

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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