Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mark Carney granted Bloomberg News an “exclusive one-on-one” sit-down interview.
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Carney → grant → interview
On Wednesday, he sat down with the New York Times at its Manhattan headquarters to discuss his vision for diversifying Canada’s trade.
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he → sit → trade
In both interviews, failed trade negotiations with the U.S. were discussed.
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negotiations → fail → U.S.
Notably, the same opportunity has not been provided to Canadian media.
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opportunity → provide → media
Instead, outlets here have only been given the opportunity to ask harried questions at short press conferences, and like our fellow Canadians, were recently spoon-fed a pre-recorded “Forward Guidance” video meant to reassure us, without specifics, that our PM had made the right choice.
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PM → give → choice
Trade talks with the U.S. broke down on Aug. 21.
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talks → break → Aug.
Since then, we have been given conflicting information from U.S. representatives about the reason for the breakdown and not one sit-down interview from our PM.
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we → give → PM
Carney granted a 15-minute sit-down interview with Bloomberg News’s Brian Platt on Sept. 14.
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Carney → grant → Sept.
While the purpose of this interview was to discuss the Canada Investment Summit taking place at the time, toward the end of the interview, Platt took the obvious opportunity to ask Carney about whether remarks made by U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting that the U.S. could reach a deal with Canada “fairly soon” were true.
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U.S. → discuss → Canada
Carney replied: “There is a mutually advantageous agreement that is possible between Canada and the United States … we’re ready to sit down and negotiate that and move it forward.”
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we → reply → it
To this, Platt followed up: “Is there a question of who moves first here?”
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who → follow → this
Carney cut off Platt before he could finish his question and replied: “No.
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he → cut → question
We’re practical people that know what our bottom lines are, what our red lines are, for sovereignty, for culture, not being restricted on our ability to sign other trade deals.
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lines → ’re → deals
We’re ready to sit down.
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We → ’re → ?
We’ll do what’s right for the Canadian people.”
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what → do → people
But Canadian media hasn’t been given an opportunity to sit down with Carney to ask questions that might test that claim.
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that → give → claim
At least Bloomberg tried.
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Bloomberg → try → ?
Wednesday’s New York Times article summarizing their interview with Mark Carney about his diversification vision was more platforming than interviewing.
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article → summarize → interviewing
The article, written by four journalists, describes Carney as “the most prominent global leader to take on Mr. Trump,” claims other leaders look to him as a “model” for dealing with their president and compliments Carney’s clear articulation of his interests.
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leaders → write → interests
The New York Times journalists apparently didn’t push back on Carney’s reiteration that the world should move away from the U.S. dollar as the standard reserve currency and toward a multipolar system in which the only other currency mentioned was China’s.
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currency → push → which
I guess the New York Times found Carney’s suggestion that such a pivot would be limited until the Chinese currency and financial system was properly liberalized somehow reassuring, if they didn’t, they didn’t mention it.
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they → guess → it
It’s strange that they didn’t probe Carney’s suggestion about the realignment of the global financial system further.
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they → ’ → system
Carney initially suggested it in a 2019 speech he made while serving as the governor of the Bank of England.
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he → suggest → England
In other words, his belief has nothing to do with diversifying Canada against Trump’s tariffs or this trade war.
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belief → have → tariffs
It predates it.
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It → predate → it
But perhaps the most disturbing part of the New York Times interview is that these journalists decided to lead their article with Carney’s statement that, as an “extreme tail risk” he investigated the possibility of the U.S. invading Canada.
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U.S. → decide → Canada
This, despite the fact that elsewhere in the interview they say that Carney said he and Trump “have a good relationship in the sense of we can pick up the phone and talk to each other about issues,” speak “frequently” and have spoken “a number of times” since talks broke down last month.
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talks → say → times
Apparently, the New York Times never even bothered to ask what the results of the possibility of invasion investigation were or they decided not to share them.
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they → bother → them
As a result, the foreboding suggestion that U.S. soldiers might cross our borders and point weapons at our citizens just hangs there.
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soldiers → cross → citizens
Worse, because it was suggested in an interview with our PM, this bizarre, unfounded, fearmongering suggestion was picked up by Canadian media outlets, flooding our headlines and hijacking Canadian voters’ nervous systems.
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suggestion → suggest → systems
The New York Times journalists apparently never bothered to drill down on the specifics about why Carney decided to walk away from the deal, if they did, they didn’t share what they’d learned.
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they → bother → what
And, if they never asked for specifics, it suggests they just assumed it was necessary.
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it → ask → specifics
The article was less of an interview than it was a friendly platform for Carney to elucidate his vision for reducing dependence on the U.S.
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Carney → elucidate → U.S.
As for Canadian media, we have not been granted any sit-down interviews from Carney about the breakdown in negotiations.
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we → grant → negotiations
Reporters here have only been able to ask harried questions after press conferences.
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Reporters → ask → conferences
Oh, and on Sept. 8, Carney released his third, and perhaps most polished, pre-recorded “Forward Guidance” video, which was wholly absent of details about why talks broke down.
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talks → release → details
In the video meant to reassure us we were told he “simply could not accept what they were proposing.”
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they → mean → what
The most recent sit-down interview our PM granted to a Canadian media outlet took place before talks broke down.
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talks → sit → place
On April 27, CBC News’s chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault sat down for a 30-minute interview to mark Carney’s one-year anniversary as PM.
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correspondent → sit → PM
An interview marking a PM’s one-year anniversary didn’t have to be cozy, but it was.
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it → mark → anniversary
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
