Live updates: Premiers meet in Huntsville for second day of talks

Part I is trade negotiator in chief.

Part II is manager at large of the country’s great expectations.

Unsurprisingly, Carney is struggling with Part I. Bargaining began with the prime minister declaring Canada’s grandiose goals, yet mind control is not as easy as it looks when trying to bend Donald Trump to his will.

Negotiations are not going according to plan.

Which is why Part II is also part of the plan. With talks in the home-stretch, Canada’s stretch goals look increasingly far-fetched as the goalposts keep moving.

Hence the prime ministerial imperative to lower expectations at home, starting with the 13 premiers closeted with him at a posh lakeside resort Tuesday. New tariffs are inevitable as Canada and the world adjust to the unavoidable reality of Trump’s world view, Carney explained.

The premiers get it, having heard it from the prime minister’s mouth. Now they are spreading the word.

In an unprecedented display of unity and solidarity, the first ministers are all singing from the same spreadsheet. They can see the terms of trade but also the trade-offs, the risks as well as the rewards.

Full credit to Trump for getting them all onside — on Carney’s side — as Canada braces for the worst.

Led by Doug Ford, the premiers heaped praise on the prime ministerial skill set. With Quebec’s oft-cantankerous François Legault beside him nodding in agreement, Ontario’s premier catalogued Carney’s achievements while praising his listening ability and humility.

“He’s an honest man, he just wants the best for Canada,” Ford enthused. “He is humble, he listens, he’s a smart businessman.”

Premier after premier echoed Ford’s words, declaring their fidelity to the federal negotiating strategy and the prime ministerial tactics.

“I have tremendous confidence in the prime minister and his team,” exulted Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston. “We’re all binding together and spending time together.”

Indeed, they have bonded beyond expectations. Monday night, after a barbecue hosted by Ford at his nearby cottage, Carney stayed over for the night — and talked long into the night, well after the other first ministers had returned to their rooms at the Deerhurst Resort.

The upshot is that this is Canada’s best shot to clean up its own house, that we may now be masters in their own house — maître chez nous, as Carney so often says in French to Quebec audiences, borrowing from a stock nationalist phrase connoting self-reliance. And so after receiving a vote of confidence from the premiers, Carney proceeded to praise their own willingness to dismantle domestic trade barriers as a way of reducing dependence on American markets.

“We are masters in our own home, and we can control our own economic destiny,” Carney told a news conference before flying back to Ottawa, leaving the premiers to sit down for their annual summit.

“Now we are starting to look at projects of national interest, and that will include a process with the Indigenous Peoples … when it comes to creating a single Canadian economy instead of 13.”

But a single Canadian economy will still be comprised of its parts — 10 provincial and three territorial — in which every politician is destined to remain territorial about where the benefits flow. Projects of national importance will be given priority, but how to define the national interest?

That’s a question that Carney, as prime minister of the entire country, will have to resolve as rival premiers put forward pet projects.

Ford put his best foot forward Tuesday, arguing that Ontario produces steel and other products that would be a good fit for the national economy. But he stressed that the criteria for worthy national projects should be truly national benefits.

Standing by Ford’s side, Quebec’s Legault was uncharacteristically circumspect at the microphone, saying that question was best put to the prime minister.

His silence was strictly diplomatic, in deference to the warm words uttered by Ford about the history of the Quebec-Ontario relationship and their own strong personal friendship. A more candid Legault might have retreated to his recurring demand that federal decisions redound to his province’s benefit and defer to Quebec’s jurisdictional aspirations.

That Legault held his tongue, mindful of his Ontario host, was perhaps a sign of the times and a signpost for Canada’s future direction in a time of American animus. The prime minister, for his part, made the most of the Canadian amity on display in Muskoka.

Asked whether the competition for federal funding “could divide the country,” Carney offered a contrarian view.

“It’s the contrary. For the projects to be of interest, to be of national interest, (they) have to benefit multiple stakeholders, multiple provinces, Indigenous people, also move us towards our climate objectives.”

As the U.S. closes in on Canada, can Carney square the circle?

Part I — renegotiating a trade entente — is the hard part.

Part II — managing expectations (and exhorting collaboration) — is well underway.

“We will agree (on) a deal if there’s one on the table that is in the best interests of Canadians, just as the United States will look for the best interests of the U.S.”

Given Trump’s unpredictability — a factor many premiers, including Doug Ford, repeatedly mention — Carney said other nations are eager to boost their business with Canada. 

“Our phone is ringing off the hook from other countries who want to do more. I’ve had over 80 bilaterals (meetings) with foreign leaders since I became prime minister,” he told reporters.

“A number of premiers have been on major trade missions … We’re going to focus more and more of our time on those positive aspects.”

Ford, who chairs the council of premiers, was tight-lipped when asked for details from Carney’s presentation behind closed doors. It followed a long chat the two had Monday night in front of the fireplace at Ford’s cottage near Huntsville, where the prime minister slept following a dinner of grilled steak and chicken with the premiers.

“I don’t want to jeopardize the negotiations … but, again, if I can say this, Donald Trump is very, very hard to deal with just because he’s so fluid,” Ford said. “It’s constantly moving with him.”

New Brunswick’s Susan Holt said the premiers encouraged Carney “not to make a deal at all costs” and to strategically use “exposure points” the provinces have flagged for Canadian negotiators to improve their prospects — such as the fact her province supplies much of the jet fuel used by the American military on the eastern seaboard.

“We’re seeing the U.S. react to some of Canada’s decisions. They’ve reacted very sensitively to the fact that Canadians aren’t travelling in their country right now,” Holt said, pointing to recent complaints from U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra that this is a reason Trump feels Canada is “nasty.” 

“They’re reacting to the fact that we don’t have their booze on their shelves, and they’re irritated,” she added. “We need that irritation to get bigger and louder.”

Carney is also turning the federal government’s attention to infrastructure projects of national interest, with an office to evaluate proposals from the provinces to be set up in September. Ideas that benefit entire regions or the whole country will take precedence. 

“We will be focusing on initiatives that are within our own control for the benefit of Canadians,” the prime minister said, citing as one example a proposal for more “linkages” of British Columbia’s electricity grid with the Yukon and Northwest Territories to open up mining of critical minerals, which can also benefit Alberta. 

Competition is fierce, said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, who is pushing a massive offshore wind energy project.

“There’s lots of potential projects and good, good ones,” he added. “Everyone is waiting for the major projects office to open.”

While Ford is advocating “dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff” retaliation if Trump imposes more levies, Carney suggested he’s taking a wait-and-see approach while Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe have advised against such reprisals. 

“Everything’s on the table,” Ford maintained, including a return of the tax he briefly placed on electricity exports to Michigan, New York and Minnesota months ago — which had quickly caught the attention of Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. 

“You don’t want to trigger a complete (trade) war. But the only thing, I believe, with President Trump and Secretary Lutnick that I’ve seen, you have to be tough. If you’re weak, they will run us over.”

“We’ll see how this deal goes,” Ford added, referring to the trade negotiations. 

The premiers’ meeting with Carney included a briefing from two former Canadian ambassadors to the U.S., David McNaughton and Gary Doer, over a working lunch. 

Earlier in the day, Ford welcomed Moe into a memorandum of understanding with Ontario and Alberta to build new pipelines, rail lines and other energy infrastructure to move oil and critical minerals east and west.

Ford said such projects will be essential if the trade dispute with Trump interferes with the existing Line 5 pipeline that brings oil from the west to Ontario through Michigan, but Green Leader Mike Schreiner took issue with that. 

“Instead of using this time with the premiers to discuss real solutions to an escalating trade-war and affordability crisis, he is wasting time peddling projects that will only waste taxpayer dollars and accelerate climate change,” Schreiner said.