Ontario Premier Doug Ford viewed Prime Minister Mark Carney's meeting with President Trump as positive, emphasizing the improved relationship compared to the Trudeau era. He highlighted Trump's apparent preference for Carney and expressed optimism for future Canada-US relations.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith expressed a more cautious outlook, stating that Carney has a challenging task ahead. She stressed the need for USMCA renegotiation and placed blame on former Prime Minister Trudeau for strained US-Canada relations.
The article also highlights tension between Ford and Smith. Ford called for national unity amid discussions of Alberta separatism, while Smith retorted that Ford should focus on his own province and not interfere with Alberta's internal affairs.
The article presents differing opinions on the success of the Carney-Trump meeting and underscores existing interprovincial political divisions within Canada.
The Premiers of Ontario and Alberta offered contrasting views on the success of the first in-person meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump, as tensions between the two provinces were exposed over unity concerns bubbling up in the West.
However, both Doug Ford and Danielle Smith said it’s clear that Mr. Trump far prefers dealing with Mr. Carney than former prime minister Justin Trudeau, which they hoped would benefit Canada in the long run.
Mr. Carney visited the White House on Tuesday for a highly anticipated meeting with Mr. Trump a week after a federal election that focused on the continuing trade war with the U.S. and the President’s repeated threats to take over its closest ally.
The Prime Minister described his meeting − which was prefaced by a 34-minute publicly aired Oval Office confab in which the President repeated his contention that Canada should become the 51st state, batted down by Mr. Carney - as “constructive.” Later, he said the focus is on redefining the relationship between the two countries.
The Premiers are set to meet with Mr. Carney at a virtual first ministers’ meeting on Wednesday.
Mr. Ford and Ms. Smith characterized the public portion of the Oval Office meeting differently.
Premier Danielle Smith is dismissing a warning from the leader of Canada's largest province over threats of separatism from Alberta, saying he should mind his own business. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Canada needs to be united to fight U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, but Smith says she doesn't tell Ford how to run his province and she expects the same from him. (May 6, 2025)
The Canadian Press
Speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park, Mr. Ford said Mr. Carney adeptly handled his first meeting with the President.
“He held his own,” Mr. Ford said.
“I’ll tell you, it’s very obvious that President Trump likes Prime Minister Carney a lot more than he liked prime minister Trudeau. So that’s a first start, but it’s all about building a relationship and I think this is a first step to something productive.”
The Premier said he believed Canada was “in a much better position” than before the meeting.
“I thought they were both respectful of each other, and I thought it was a warm greeting,” Mr. Ford said, adding that he viewed it as a good start to having a “great relationship once again with the United States and the American people.”
Ms. Smith, meanwhile, took a different tone.
“I think that Prime Minister Carney has his work cut out for him,” she told reporters in Edmonton.
She said she hoped that behind closed doors, Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump could come up with a plan to renegotiate the free-trade agreement. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, expires in 18 months, and Mr. Trump said Tuesday that he’s not sure it is still necessary.
“For all of us, it would be a far greater benefit if we were able to get a renegotiation happening sooner,” Ms. Smith said.
The Alberta Premier said she blames Mr. Trudeau for what she described as a severed relationship between Washington and Ottawa.
“I’m just as hopeful as anyone else that they’re able to have a reset on the relationship,” she said.
“We’ll see if Prime Minister Mark Carney can reset that.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Ford made an apparent reference to the noisy separation movement in Ms. Smith’s province. The Alberta Premier issued a televised address Monday about the growing frustration with Ottawa and said that although she’s personally opposed to separation, if a citizen-led petition managed to get the requisite number of signatures for such a question to be put to a referendum, the government would enable that for 2026.
“This is a time to unite the country, not people saying, ‘Oh, I’m leaving the country,’ ” Mr. Ford said in a speech in Toronto.
Asked by reporters about the prospect of Alberta separation later on Tuesday, Mr. Ford said: “I’m not for that whatsoever. We need to stay united. We’re so much stronger when we’re all sticking together. So hopefully that’s never going to happen.”
Ms. Smith responded to Mr. Ford’s comments in her own press conference on Tuesday.
She said that she and the Ontario Premier “have a great friendship,” even if they don’t agree on everything.
“In fact, I think we supported different people in the last federal election. And so, we don’t have to agree on everything,” she said, suggesting that Mr. Ford, a Progressive Conservative who spoke critically of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, supported the Liberals in the federal campaign.
She said that the two premiers have constructive conversations at the Council of the Federation meetings of the 13 premiers, which is chaired by Mr. Ford.
“He’s the Premier of Ontario. I’m the Premier of Alberta. We just have different issues that we have to respond to in our respective jurisdictions,” she said.
“I don’t tell him how he should run his province, and I would hope that he doesn’t tell me how I should run mine. But we have a very respectful relationship, and I hope that continues.”
Skip the extension — just come straight here.
We’ve built a fast, permanent tool you can bookmark and use anytime.
Go To Paywall Unblock Tool