Carney reflects on jump into politics at an ‘important time,’ key subjects in year-end interview
With the final days of 2025 rapidly falling to the wayside, Canadians are likely taking stock of the last 12 months.
The past year has seen some rapid changes on the political scene — most notably in the prime minister’s chair.
At this time in 2024, Justin Trudeau was still mulling whether to stay on or step aside.
His ultimate decision to resign paved the way for Mark Carney to take the helm of the Liberal Party and country, later securing his role as prime minister in April’s election.
In a year-end interview with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, Carney touched on a number of topics, including his entry into electoral politics.
Here are seven key subjects the prime minister addressed.
WATCH | Year-end interview with Prime Minister Mark Carney:
Year-end interview with Prime Minister Mark Carney (2025) | CBC News Special
Prime Minister Mark Carney sits down for a year-end interview with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, tackling questions about how Canada’s responding to the trade war with the United States, his environmental credibility and how he perceives his leadership.
‘Same person’ who championed climate action
Since becoming prime minister, Carney has walked back a number of key environmental policies introduced by his predecessor.
He suspended the consumer carbon tax on his first day in office and then later paused the electric vehicle sales mandate. He also promised to suspend the proposed federal oil and gas emissions cap and remove Alberta’s requirements under the Clean Electricity Regulations as part of the recent agreement struck with Premier Danielle Smith.
Prior to joining electoral politics, Carney had touted the need to take climate action. He previously supported a consumer price on carbon (though said the policy had become too divisive before scrapping it).
Carney also helped create an international green banking alliance as the UN special envoy on climate action and finance. That alliance shut down this year.
As prime minister, Carney insists he is still focused on curbing climate change.
“I’m the same person,” he said. “Because I care about the issue fundamentally, I care what gets done — not what is put in regulation, not what is said, not what is prohibited,” he said.
Environment and Climate Change Canada released a report last week that shows Canada will fall well short of its 2030 climate goal — just halfway to its target of a 40 to 45 per cent reduction below 2005 levels.
WATCH | Carney says Canada won’t hit climate targets with current policies:
Carney says Canada won’t meet climate targets with current policy
Prime Minister Mark Carney tells Radio-Canada that he’s making a major change to a ‘pragmatic’ climate policy, but that the policies Canada currently has in place will not be enough to meet its 2030 and 2035 climate goals. Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin tells Power Politics that the climate goals are still possible — despite some experts and former cabinet colleague Steven Guilbeault saying that the policies Carney removed have put 2030 out of reach. Plus, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly argues that a $70-billion mining merger is a ‘net benefit’ for Canada.
After Carney pulled back on some policies, Canada is on track to reduce its emissions by 21 per cent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade, according to the report.
By comparison, the country was on track to slash its emissions to 34 per cent below 2005 levels under Trudeau.
Despite that report, Carney appeared to dismiss the Trudeau government’s climate plan as “too much regulation, not enough action.”
Trade order upended
While he may not want to borrow some of Trudeau’s climate policies, Carney seemed willing to borrow one of his predecessor’s favourite lines.
The former prime minister often praised Canada while adding, “better is always possible.” Trudeau even used the line in one of his last social media posts in office.
Carney won April’s federal election after presenting himself during the campaign as the best person to handle U.S. President Donald Trump, who has hit Canada with hefty tariffs on key sectors including aluminum and steel.
WATCH | Carney discusses upcoming CUSMA review:
Carney says sectoral tariffs will be part of CUSMA renegotiation
Prime Minister Mark Carney sat down for a year-end interview with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, where he laid out his expectations for the CUSMA review next year.
The prime minister has since taken a number of steps to appease the U.S. administration — including walking back a digital services tax and removing a swathe of retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
Despite those efforts, a deal to remove at least some of the U.S. sectoral tariffs has not materialized.
Carney has defended his record on the trade file, arguing that Canada “has the best deal” with the U.S. because the country has a number of tariff exemptions under the Canada-U.S. Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) that other countries hit by American tariffs do not.
Carney borrowed Trudeau’s line when pressed if the current state of the trading relationship was enough for the moment.
“Better is always possible,” Carney told Barton.
“The challenge remains that the United States has fundamentally changed its trading relationships with everybody in the world, Canada included.”
WATCH | Carney says Canada, U.S. were close to agreement on tariffs:
‘We were close to an agreement’ with U.S., says Carney when asked about Ontario’s anti-tariff ad
During an announcement with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a reporter asks Prime Minister Mark Carney whether he thinks Ontario’s anti-tariff ad impacted U.S. tariffs on Canada. Responding to the same question, Ford said ‘that was the best ad that’s ever been run.’
Carney said that the current sectoral tariffs will “necessarily be part” of the upcoming CUSMA review.
In the meantime, the prime minister is touting efforts to diversify Canada’s export destinations, pointing to talks with India and the United Arab Emirates.
Carney also hinted how he is approaching Canada’s relationship with China, which chilled in recent years.
China slapped tariffs on Canadian canola earlier this year, largely seen to be in response to Canada taking action against Chinese steel and electric vehicles.
Carney met with Chinese President Xi Jinping this fall and the two agreed to “resolve outstanding trade issues and irritants.”
But the prime minister — who listed China as Canada’s biggest security threat during the leadership debate in April — said there will be “guardrails” around the relationship.
“There are areas — artificial intelligence, critical minerals, defense — where clearly the security threats are such that we would not have a deep relationship with China,” he said.
Relationship with Trump
On the trade front, Barton asked Carney if he thinks his relationship with Trump has helped in trade talks.
The prime minister said it was for Trump to say how he views the relationship, though he jokingly pointed to the president calling Carney a “great man” during a meeting at the White House in October.
Carney posited, as he has before, that Trump “respects strength.”
“Being direct with him and what our objectives are and how we see it, that’s important,” he told Barton.
The prime minister argued that seeking to diversify Canada’s trade markets and boosting defence spending are policies that the U.S. president respects.
Preparing for ‘sacrifices’
The prime minister turned some heads when previewing his first budget in early October by saying that Canada needs to prepare for “challenges” and “sacrifices.”
Carney’s government is poised to post a deficit of $78 billion this year — far more than the $42-billion deficit that was projected under Trudeau.
When asked what specific sacrifices he was referring to, Carney told Barton that “a lot of that is in the public service.”
The budget outlined a plan to slash 16,000 positions in the federal civil service over the next three years.
Ottawa has also been running a “comprehensive expenditure review,” with the goal of spending less on the day-to-day running of the federal government.
“We’re going to reduce the size of the public service by 10 per cent over the course of the next few years. We’re cutting consultant use in the public service by 20 per cent over that period of time — and we will take other measures in order to make government work much better, be much more efficient,” Carney told Barton.
The prime minister said he will preserve programs that help Canadians who are struggling with the cost of living, including the dental care and child care programs established under Trudeau.
WATCH | Carney warns of ‘sacrifices’ to the public service:
Carney says public service part of ‘sacrifices’ to be made
CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton sat down with the prime minister for a year-end interview, in which she asked him about his previous comments that Canadians will be expected to make sacrifices.
Flirting with a majority
The Liberals came just short of winning a majority government in April’s election. But thanks to a few Conservative defectors, Carney is now one seat shy of a majority of the seats in the House.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has accused the prime minister of trying to gain a majority government through “dirty backroom deals” after former Conservatives Michael Ma and Chris d’Entremont swapped their blue banners for red this fall.
When asked if he’s comfortable achieving a majority through defections, Carney rebuffed Poilievre’s assertion and said he is “comfortable commanding the confidence of the House of Commons.”
“Last time I checked, that’s the way Parliament works.”
WATCH | Carney hints that more MPs could cross the floor to join Liberals:
Carney hints more floor-crossings could be coming
Prime Minister Mark Carney hints more floor-crossers could be coming to the Liberals, as his party only needs one more seat to gain a majority. He made the comments in a year-end interview with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.
But the prime minister did not answer when asked if there’s an active recruitment campaign to poach MPs from other parties.
“I think that there is a spectrum of MPs with varying degrees of recognition of the serious situation the country is in, varying degrees of recognition that we need action, not slogans,” he said.
“Those individuals face their own decisions about how they can best support that agenda.”
Looking ahead to 2026
When asked about what the biggest challenge is for the coming year, Carney pointed to Canada-U.S. relations and the CUSMA review — but suggested he wants to remain focused on other priorities as well.
“The U.S. situation is serious, we’re going to work hard and we’re gonna negotiate on that. But remaining focused, focus on what we can control, focus on building here at home … that will have a bigger impact over time,” he said.
One of the first pieces of legislation Carney’s government introduced and passed in the spring was the major projects bill, which allows Ottawa to prioritize approving “national interest” projects that will provide an economic boost to Canada.
Carney has also identified a number of projects he wants fast-tracked to the new Major Projects Office.
“Of course we’re going to work hard on the U.S. negotiation, but we can’t let it crowd everything else out,” he told Barton.
‘Do I like the job?’
A portion of the interview focused on Carney’s personal governing style and how he sees himself in the role of prime minister.
He noted that he is still relatively new to the job and to politics itself, having only entered the electoral political fray during the Liberal leadership race earlier this year.
“It’s surprising just how real the relentless nature of the job — it’s obviously 24/7/365 — and just the span of issues for which you’re ultimately responsible in this role,” he told Barton.
“Of course the way to run big complex organizations with many responsibilities is you delegate responsibility.”
When asked if he thinks he’s good at delegating, Carney said he thinks so but said “it’s not for me to judge.”
When asked if he liked the job, the prime minister re-asked himself the question and offered a short “yes” after a brief pause.
“Do I like this job? Yes,” he said.
“It’s an important time and it’s a privilege to have it. It’s a huge responsibility, but as long as I have it I’m going to be working flat out on it.”
WATCH | We asked the Prime Minister: ‘Do you like this job?’:
We asked the Prime Minister: ‘Do you like this job?’
In a year-end interview with CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, Prime Minister Mark Carney was asked whether he likes the job. His answer touched on responsibility, privilege and the pressure of the moment.
Article source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-year-end-interview-cbc-9.7022019?cmp=rss