Lutnick says Carney picked U.S. ‘kerfuffle’ to blunt Alberta, Quebec independence votes

OTTAWA — U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of prolonging Canada’s trade fight with Washington to gain political leverage ahead of votes tied to independence movements in Alberta and Quebec.Lutnick told CNBC Wednesday the dispute was “about the Liberal Party and Mark Carney trying to use a kerfuffle with the United States to gain political leverage,” rather than securing the best outcome for Canadians..“They’ve got an independence party, the sovereign party, voting in Quebec on October 5,” Lutnick said.“They’ve got an independence vote that starts the process in Alberta, who always feels ripped off by Ottawa and the left of Canada. And, you know, he’s just trying to fight with us to try to gain that leverage.”Quebec voters head to the polls in a provincial election October 5. The pro-independence Parti Québécois is seeking to form government and has pledged to hold another referendum on Quebec independence.Albertans will vote October 19 on whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the constitutional process required to hold a binding independence referendum..Lutnick previously accused Carney of raising French-language protections as a last-minute condition during trade negotiations to damage the Parti Québécois’s electoral prospects.Carney has said the terms proposed by Washington were “unfair” and called the reliability of any agreement into question. He said Canada would only accept a deal that respected Canadian sovereignty and its ability to protect Quebec culture and the French language.Lutnick offered no evidence Wednesday to support his claim that Carney’s negotiating position was motivated by the two provincial votes.The commerce secretary also attacked Canada’s economic performance, agreeing with the CNBC host’s criticism of the country’s immigration-driven population growth and weak per-capita results.“Canada is the worst-performing of the OECD,” Lutnick said. “They’ve got good people. They’ve got great resources. Why do they underperform?”He then singled out Ontario and Toronto.“How about this? Ontario, with the great city of Toronto, would be last out of our 51 states,” Lutnick said.“They just don’t perform per capita because they don’t have the right tools. They don’t have the right regulation. They don’t have the right leadership.”Lutnick did not identify the economic measurement behind either comparison, he also accused Canada of treating its largest trading partner “so poorly.”Trade talks collapsed August 21 after Canada decided to pull out due to revised American terms. The Trump administration subsequently imposed tariffs of up to 50% on $27.6 billion in Canadian goods.Ottawa plans to introduce matching counter-tariffs on the same value of American imports beginning September 8.

Lutnick says Carney picked U.S. ‘kerfuffle’ to blunt Alberta, Quebec independence votes

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