Carney pushes nation building plan after ‘positive’ call with Trump

OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Mark Carney on Friday promised a new $5 billion infrastructure fund to accelerate big projects in his quest to make much of his campaign about nation building and making Canada more economically independent from the United States.

For the third day in a row, U.S. President Donald Trump dominated Carney’s campaign schedule, this time with the two holding the first phone call since Carney was sworn in as prime minister. That was followed by a distinct change in tone from the president about Canada.

The call with Trump Friday morning was followed by a virtual meeting with the country’s premiers, after which Carney held a campaign announcement at the Port of Montreal where he promised the $5 billion Trade Diversification Corridor Fund and a move to encourage Canada’s ports to co-operate with each other.

The Trade Diversification Corridor Fund would “accelerate nation-building projects at ports, railroads, inland terminals, airports and highways” in a move meant to diversify trade away from the United States, the Liberals said in a release.

“Right now, as Canadians, we have to look out for ourselves, and we have to look for each other,” Carney said, surrounded by Liberal candidates and port workers. “Canada is strong, but we’re even stronger when we are united. And our response to these latest tariffs is to fight, to protect and to build.”

Carney and Trump both indicated they had agreed that the two countries would begin to negotiate a new economic and security deal following the election and Trump, for the first time in months, did not suggest Canada would be better off as a state. Carney was clear to say that the post-election talks would be between “our two sovereign countries.”

Carney said he would be “working very hard over the next month to earn the right to represent Canada in those discussions.”

Recent polls suggest the top question Canadian voters are asking themselves in this election campaign is which leader is best able to fight for Canada’s interests in the face of the Trump administration’s constant economic threats.

Carney also promised to strengthen security at those ports to address “the traffic of drugs such as fentanyl, as well as illegal guns and stolen cars.”

Fentanyl and gun trafficking were also the focus of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre who was campaigning on Vancouver Island Friday.

He pledged to impose life sentences for what he calls large-scale instances of human trafficking, smuggling large numbers of guns or trafficking fentanyl.

“We will ensure the monsters who kill our people and endanger our communities go to jail for life,” he said at a news conference in Nanaimo, B.C.

“Life sentences will be in place to protect Canadians and to end the chaos in our streets. These policies are necessary to protect the Charter rights of Canadians.”

He said in an online video that some criminals should “rot in jail forever.”

In Toronto, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh promised new rules for corporate landlords and more help for non-profit groups, in order to address rising housing costs.

Singh said he would ban large, corporate landlords from engaging in what he calls “the predatory practice of buying up affordable homes,” restricting them to groups like individuals and non-profits.

— With files from Kyle Duggan in Montreal, David Baxter in Toronto, Brieanna Charlebois in Nanaimo, B.C., and Catherine Morrison and Anja Karadeglija.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

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NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh walks leaves after making an announcement on affordable housing during a federal election campaign stop in Toronto on Friday, March 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

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