Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre have very different views on CUSMA...

Plus thoughts on 24 Sussex and a big interview with Gad Saad.

Before I get to the stark contrast between Mark Carney’s handling of CUSMA and Pierre Poilievre’s, I wanted to share some exciting news.

I had another long interview with Dr. Gad Saad this morning all about his bestselling new book Suicidal Empathy. We chatted for about 35 minutes or so about his book, what the concept of suicidal empathy really means and how it applies to Canada.

We also talked about why he’s leaving Canada for Mississippi and the massive exit tax bill that he’s being hit with.

The video will be out sometime next week after it is edited and I’ll be sure to share it here and elsewhere.

It think you’ll love the chat we had and I think you’ll love his book which you can buy here.

Divergent views on getting a CUSMA deal…

Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre clearly have different ways of looking at the CUSMA negotiations.

Carney told reporters on Thursday that he didn’t raise the issue of CUSMA during a phone call with Donald Trump that happened Wednesday. Listen as Carney explains why and explains his view of trying to get a deal.

Now listen to Poilievre explain why were need what he calls positive leverage.

In my view, Carney is approaching the trade talks with the Americans the way far too many Canadians are, from a position of weakness.

Are Trump’s tariffs hurting us?

Absolutely.

Do we have things he wants that we could try and trade for some relief?

Again, a resounding yes.

That isn’t happening though, and I have to wonder why.

For the record, Carney was asked about his decision not to raise CUSMA with Trump on the phone call. His answer was less than impressive.

Batra’s Burning Questions...

We kicked around the CUSMA talks on Batra’s Burning Questions this week with myself, Adrienne Batra and Lorrie Goldstein.

On the topic of 24 Sussex Drive...

I fully support rebuilding 24 Sussex Drive to be the official residence for our Prime Minister, so I applaud Mark Carney for moving forward on getting the job done. He has announced a design competition that will take a year to complete and then the work will be begin.

Carney won’t be the first resident of the refurbished property, the whole project will likely be finished once he’s left office.

“I will never in any event live in 24 Sussex Drive. But future prime ministers will undoubtedly need to raise their children here as they lead our country. So, we’ll restore it so they may do so safely and securely,” Carney said at the announcement.

It’s sad that we are at this point.

While 24 Sussex is an official residence, it’s not The White House or the Palais de l’Élysée. That doesn’t mean it can’t be a nice and dignified place for the PM of the day to hold meetings, receptions, private dinners, all part of practicing the art of diplomacy.

We let 24 Sussex deteriorate to the point where it was falling apart and rat infested. Canadians get outraged over any money that gives our elected leaders a better life than what we have.

Thus we had the PM, for years, flying around in old planes that had ashtrays in them, but no plugs for laptops for the staff and journalists flying with him.

So Kudos to Carney for making progress here, but...

Do we really need to launch a Go Fund Me page to pay for this?

If we are a serious country, we should have a proper official residence for the PM and we should be able to pay for it ourselves without resorting to donations.