Buffalo N.Y. (WBEN) - Canada will have a new prime minister by the end of the week. Meanwhile, it will be the leader of Canada's largest province who will negotiate tariffs on Thursday with the Secretary of Commerce.
"We don't really have a prime minister right now, and that's the issue. It's avoidant leadership," said Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun.
That's because Justin Trudeau is wrapping up his time as prime minister, and will be replaced by Mark Carney, as early as Friday.
"Previous to this, it's just been Premier [Doug] Ford taking the lead. Ontario is most hit by the tariff issue, and it's the biggest place where cars are manufactured, and a lot of the nickel and electricity and different things that we've talked about over the last few weeks kind of come from. So it makes sense for him to be there, but he does not represent Canada," Warmington explained with WBEN.
The problem with Ford is he doesn't have a seat in Parliament, nor does he have an elected mandate. Warmington Believes the issue will be the same for U.S. President Donald Trump.
"He looks at this government and just shakes his head and goes, 'What's going on here?' He doesn't consider it a legitimate government where, in Premier Ford, although he doesn't like what the premier has been saying, the tough talk, he kind of understands it, respects it. He just was re-elected just week-and-a-half ago with a new mandate," Warmington said.
Warmington says Carney, the new prime minister, was the governor of the Bank of Canada and the governor of the Bank of England. He also worked for Goldman Sachs, which should get him a seat at the table with Trump. However, Warmington notes Carney is a globalist.
"He's WEF, he loves all this climate change stuff. He's openly bragged about how it's going to affect every company, every hedge fund. And you've got President Trump, who's trying to get away from all that woke nonsense and try to get back into business. So I don't think they're going to really see eye-to-eye on many things," Warmington noted.
Warmington adds Canadians want Trump to drop the idea of making their country America's 51st state.
"It's certainly got headlines that got people's attention, but Canadians don't want that. I don't think that's going to happen," he said. "And as long as they keep talking like that, it galvanizes Canadians. I mean, you wouldn't talk about that with any country, and certainly not your best friend. So hopefully the president drops that whoever the leader in Canada gets the president to drop that will be the one that people trust."
One matter that has been controversial over the last month-plus since tariff talks commenced has been Canadians booing the U.S. National Anthem during hockey games at the 4 Nations Face-Off and the NHL.
Warmington recently attended the Sabres game Monday, and was pleased with the reaction to the national anthems.
"There was no booing, because here in Toronto, there's been booing, and in Ottawa of the American anthem. I was very opposed to it. I've written columns about it, and I'm embarrassed about it. I apologize too to any Americans that were offended by that, or just in general. It should never happen," Warmington said. "I think this actually fits into a narrative of what the public is feeling right now. They don't want a trade war. They don't want a tariff war. They don't want harsh words between our two countries. We love Americans, we respect Americans. We're on America's side, except for in hockey, of course. But other than that, everything else. So I think people want this over with, and they want it over with fast."