Welcome to Part 2 of the Euro Digest Podcast, Journalism MENA Series, with Michael Jabri-Pickett, former Editor-in-Chief at The Khaleeji Times and Political Commentator at Al-Arabiya English. Today we discuss the Canadian election and Canadian foreign policy in a era of change as Presdient Trump upends North American norms, practises, and ‘bedrock’ alliances.
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson (00:00): Away from journalism, obviously you’re Canadian and your home country is Canada.
I don’t know if you call Canada your home now that you’ve lived in the Gulf for so long. Obviously, we see the politics and what’s happening in Canada.
Justin Trudeau stepping down, Mark Carney now becoming prime minister with the election called for later this year and the political, I guess… fallout between Canada and the U.S.
Canadian Politics: Upcoming Election & Canadian Foreign Policy
(00:28) Question: Where do you see the Canadian election going and also the future relationship between Canada and the U.S? Do you see Canada turning to the EU more?
Former Editor-in-Chief & Political Commentator, Michael Jabri-Pickett: I certainly see the relationship with the U.S. as never returning to the way it was.
I know I’m sounding like Mark Carney saying that recently, but I do think that you can be blindsided like that by one of your strongest allies, jokingly or not, (00:56) when the president of the United States starts talking annexation, maybe jokingly referring to the prime minister as governor, which is how he referred to Justin Trudeau on more than one occasion, talking about Canada becoming the 51st state.
I don’t know how… again, I’m a sports guy and I think one of the things that we all know from the sporting world is the way that you joke with your buddies in the locker room but then there is also that point where everybody knows when maybe you’ve gone a step too far.
(01:23) Even if Trump may only be in office for another three and a half, four years... I think he's floated an idea that's going to take a generation or two of Canadians to get past.
I don't think we'll ever forget because we've got this expression now, elbows up, which is from a hockey legend.
back in the 50s and 60s, who also played into the 70s, Cordie Howe.
Trump’s Lasting Impact in Canada
I think that while we will forgive at some point, I don’t think we’ll ever forget.
We have the election coming up; I think that Trump has done something that a lot of Canadian politicians haven’t been able to do.
Trump has created this nationalistic fervour in Canada.
I think there’ll be more Canadians voting in this election than in the previous elections.
(02:21): The one issue right now is Trump and the tariffs.
Your other question about Canada getting closer to the EU, I’m gonna sound like a politician when I say this, but I think they’re gonna get close, I think Canada has to recognise that the world is full of 190 odd countries and they’re going to start looking at everybody and I think they’ve recognised that this relationship with the states is changing.
(02:51): Trump is very transactional and I think that Canadians are going to have to look at the relationship with the states is very transactional.
We're not going to be thinking about the U.S. as the big brother or the friendly cousin. I think they have to recognise that we're in this for us.
We have to find as many resources as possible so that when there are tough times, we have other allies who are there to support us.
(03:19): One of the things that people seem to forget, a former prime minister wrote about this not too long ago where he said, can we remind you that we were actually in the Second World War before you were?
You know, when Canadians were called upon for the Second World War, they literally were fighting.
(03:48): I think that, we have our own idea, which is sometimes difficult to explain about ‘what it means to be Canadian.’
But when…somebody starts calling us out, I think we’re prepared to stand up for ourselves.
I think that we’re also going to be looking around at so many other allies and trying to develop better relationships with so many other people.
Editor-in-Chief, Gus Anderson: Do you think, I mean, hard question, but liberals or conservatives will win?
Canadian Election Predictions
04:15: For sure, I think Mark Carney will win; the Liberals will win.
I think Pierre Poilievre, you know… if I can bring it down to one sentence, it’s, you know, Pierre Poilievre, the Liberals will say the Conservatives are Trump-lite, whereas the Conservatives would say that Mark Carney was just like Justin.
(04:44): While I don’t subscribe to both of those expressions, I do think that some of his language, either on purpose or accidentally, invokes some of Trump’s language.
Trump talks about America first… one of Pierre Poilievre‘s campaign expressions was ‘Canada first.’ Some of the differences you know, I think Pierre Poilievre, unlike President Trump, Poilievre was first elected when he was 25, but he is now 45.
Poilievre is a career politician, which Trump is not. Mark Carney is, you know, 60. Carney, in some ways, similar to Trump in that he came into politics very late in life.
(05:41): The perception in Canada, at least from my reading, is that Canadians are more comfortable with Mark Carney, you know, former governor of the Bank of England, former governor of the Bank of Canada, you know, somebody who knows how the real world works.
The perception is that think Canadians see him as being a stronger foe when it comes to having discussions and negotiations with President Trump.
I do think the Liberals will win.
Based on the current polls, or at least the polls that I saw up until a few days ago, if the elections were to have been held just a few days ago, I think he would have won a majority.
Watch Part 1 of this Episode with the Euro Digest!
Journalism in the Gulf: Getting Started & Storytelling (Part 1)
