Stephen Harper said Mark Carney had 'no choice' but to walk away from U.S. trade deal

Harper, who also attended the event as board chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, said as a former prime minister he “cannot help but address the current situation that Canada faces.

“It is a situation in which, given the ongoing violations of our trade agreement by the United States and the current impasse in negotiations, our country felt compelled to walk away and to see a trade war commence in earnest,” he told the crowd. 

Harper added in French that he believes it must have been “a very difficult decision.

“But I do believe that our government had no choice but to take this path. I say that as one who has long been and known to be a great admirer of America, and one who believes that our close proximity and close relationship to the United States has been among this country’s most precious assets.”

Harper went on to say he believed it was clear that under the Trump administration, the U.S. “views our level of economic integration as incompatible with our separate sovereignty.”

To maintain that sovereignty, he told the audience, Canada must “pursue diminished reliance upon the United States.

“There will be significant costs to this effort, but those are costs that I hope and believe Canadians are able and prepared to accept,” Harper said, adding that found the situation both “sad” and “necessary.”

Harper’s presence at the event comes as Carney handles the fallout from the decision to suspend trade talks with Trump, after saying he could not agree to the concessions the Americans were pushing, while he seeks instead to forge deeper alliances elsewhere, such as with the European Union. 

As he has in the past, Carney acknowledged earlier Tuesday that he has turned to Harper for advice, saying he stands willing to work with any of the country’s former leaders.  

Former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien was also in attendance for the investment event. 

“I’m pleased that he’s here supporting this effort,” Carney said of Harper, who was prime minister while Carney served as Bank of Canada governor. 

He also credited Harper, who led the country’s last Conservative government from 2006 to 2015 before going on to found a global consulting firm, with carrying influence with different investors and businesses around the world. 

Indeed, upon taking the stage on Tuesday, Harper told those in the crowd that he considered many of them to be “friends,” having met them over the years in their own countries.

And while Carney has made turning Canada into an “energy superpower” one of his signature pledges, Harper reminded the audience how he often said “Canada should be an energy superpower” back when he held the job. 

But in spite of all that, the former prime minister signalled that he saw no point in retreading old ground. 

“There is no point bemoaning what is past, especially because the opportunity of becoming that global energy superpower is fortuitously offering itself to us once again,” he said. 

Harper offered his congratulations to “our current federal government” for the efforts made to streamline and fast-track the approvals process for major projects, calling the changes “welcome” and “very important.”

“However,” he said, “more does need to be done.”

He specifically pointed to the need for more regulatory and permitting reform to provide investors with more certainty of securing a “science-based decision” in a shorter period of time. 

Harper said he was “very encouraged” to hear Carney outline the steps his government was willing to take to try and achieve that. 

“I believe that Canada’s new government is committed to further reforms in these areas and committed to their urgency.”

Speaking to reporters from Vancouver, Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre dismissed any notion that the former prime minister’s presence undermined his own criticism of Carney’s handling of the economy. Poilievre said that he had spoken to Harper about his participation in the event several days earlier. 

Poilievre, who served as an MP and later cabinet minister in Harper’s government, said Conservatives always stand willing to “put Canada first” and likened the former prime minister’s decision to appear at Carney’s event to his own recent trip to New York City, where he spoke with U.S. media to promote free trade in the face of Trump’s tariffs. 

“I’m encouraged that Prime Minister Harper is doing the same thing.”

Still, Poilievre said Carney has spent his time in office participating in “speeches, summits, signing ceremonies” and failing to make changes that impact Canadians’ cost of living, the core issue for the Conservatives. 

“Summits, signing ceremonies, speeches — they’re all fine. But what we need from the Liberals right now are results to save you money, to save Canadians’ jobs, and to make our country’s promise return.”

Poilievre, who has blamed the U.S. for hitting Canada with tariffs in the first place, has also called on Carney to release the contents of the failed trade deal and for Parliament to be recalled to debate the details of the federal counter-tariffs that have since been applied to U.S. goods. 

For his part, Harper on Tuesday complimented the Carney government for hosting the first-of-its-kind investment summit in the country and that he believes such a gathering should happen regularly.

“It is such a great innovation that I wish I had thought of it.”