Is meeting Trump before naming a cabinet ‘high risk’?
There’s also some criticism coming out about Carney’s other big first move, which is to meet with Trump on Tuesday.
Peter Donolo, who was a communications director to former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien, says that holding this meeting before Carney has named a cabinet is “a high-risk thing.”
“I think Canadians wanted a prime minister … who is very tough and unyielding. And if the only way to get into [Trump’s] good graces is to suck up … then I think that’s a problem,” Donolo said on CBC News Network.
Carney has used tough language against Trump since he was elected Liberal leader and throughout the federal election campaign.
“He said he wasn’t going to sit down with Trump until Trump showed Canada respect,” he said, noting Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has only met the U.S. president over Zoom so far.
“Trump’s M.O. is to dominate and humiliate his guests in the Oval Office,” he said. “Maybe [Carney] will prove me wrong and he’ll come out of there looking like a hero and put Trump in his place, but nobody’s managed that so far.”
