Lloyd Axworthy accuses Carney of taking ‘bootlicking' approach to Trump
'You have to be principled, you have to be tactical, you have to be pragmatic. But you also have to be tough and know what you stand for,' Axworthy said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
'Flattery is always part of the game, but you can take it to the point where you actually become unctuous.'
Axworthy spoke to The Canadian Press after issuing an online broadside last Sunday against the Carney government.
Axworthy, whom prime minister Jean Chrétien appointed as foreign affairs minister from 1996 to 2000, oversaw the Ottawa Treaty that banned landmines in numerous countries. He has been a prominent voice on international relations, including through advocacy with the World Refugee and Migration Council.
In a blog post following the NATO summit — where alliance members agreed to Trump's demand for a massive increase in the alliance's defence spending target — Axworthy accused Carney and other world leaders of bending a knee to Trump.
'NATO now risks letting one craven, mendacious man set the tone for a strategy of unrestrained militarism,' Axworthy wrote, arguing it's dangerous to let defence policy be decided by 'the abusive, racist bullying of Donald Trump.'
He also argued that the summit did not adequately push to ensure Ukraine's sovereignty and instead committed alliance members to a level of defence spending that will lead to cuts to social programs and likely foreign aid.
'A pattern is now set: Trump harrumphs, we comply. What else will we quietly surrender? Cultural industries? Environmental standards, agriculture security, Arctic sovereignty?' he wrote.
In the interview, Axworthy singled out NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's exchange with Trump during the NATO summit — which saw Rutte refer to the president as 'daddy' — as an 'embarrassing' moment.
He also said his concerns have been further bolstered by Carney's decision to rescind the digital services tax that targeted American tech giants, as the prime minister and Trump undertake what he calls 'secret' trade negotiations with no parliamentary scrutiny.
'When do we stop pretending it's all part of some clever negotiating strategy that justifies bootlicking in hopes of tariff concessions?' he wrote in the blog post.
Trump suggested in March that the U.S. might sell allies fighter jets that lack the same capabilities as those used by the U.S. military. Axworthy told The Canadian Press it's unwise to accept a situation where 'the Pentagon controls the black boxes in your airplanes and your destroyers.'
Axworthy said he sees the Carney government pushing ahead with foreign policy and domestic legislation focused on economic security, while ignoring the need to invest in diplomacy to prevent conflicts and defend Canadian values abroad.
Instead of solely focusing on military spending, he said Ottawa could mobilize investment and governments of various countries to have better freshwater management, because numerous countries are on track for major droughts that can lead to armed conflict.
Axworthy said Carney's major-projects legislation, Bill C-5, has undercut reconciliation efforts with First Nations and the government 'ignored' Indigenous Peoples in its rush to get the bill passed.
'It's way past (just) being consulted. They have to be partners. They have to be involved. They're basically the third pillar of this country,' the former Manitoba MP said of Indigenous Peoples.
'You're going to get the machinery working, but you're going to leave a lot of roadkill along the way.'
The government fast-tracked the sweeping legislation and opted against shortening the 12-week summer break to give it more study.
Carney's office has not yet responded for a request for comment.
The prime minister himself was extolling the virtues of Canadian democracy Tuesday.
'We find ourselves in a situation where our values are being tested by attacks on democracy and freedoms — attacks that we must resist,' Carney said in his Canada Day remarks.
'In a world that's fraught with division … we've decided not to pull apart and fight, but to come together and to build.'
Axworthy noted that Carney came from a life outside politics and said that's among the reasons why he endorsed Chrystia Freeland instead of Carney in this year's Liberal leadership race.
'I don't think he's ever knocked on that door or gone to a constituency meeting until he became a leadership candidate,' he said in the interview.
Axworthy repeated an idea he floated in January — that Ottawa should work with the countries Trump has talked of absorbing to mount a campaign to promote rules-based trade and peace in the Arctic.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
9 minutes ago
- New York Times
With One War Over, Netanyahu Heads to Washington Amid Calls to End Another
For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, the meeting with President Trump scheduled for Monday will serve as a kind of victory lap after the joint Israeli-U.S. assault last month on Iran's nuclear facilities. The White House visit — the prime minister's third since Mr. Trump returned to office — is likely to add luster to Mr. Netanyahu's laurels, especially with his voters back home, analysts said, as he soon heads into an election year. But such trips have yielded surprises in the past. The last time Mr. Netanyahu was in the Oval Office, in April, he sat somewhat awkwardly at Mr. Trump's side as the president announced that Washington would be engaging in 'direct' talks with Iran in a last-ditch effort to rein in the country's nuclear program. That month, Mr. Netanyahu tried to convince Mr. Trump that the time was right for a military assault on Iran, but he was swatted down. This time, Mr. Trump is eager to advance a cease-fire deal for Gaza that would see Hamas release hostages and would ultimately end the long war in the Palestinian enclave that was set off by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. On Sunday, Israel was sending negotiators to Qatar, a mediating country, to try to bridge differences with Hamas. The United States said it was also brokering talks between Israel and Syria aimed at restoring calm along their frontier. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hamilton Spectator
10 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Ex-fighter jet pilot Stephen Fuhr is on a mission to change how we arm the military
OTTAWA - Not that long ago, former air force fighter pilot Stephen Fuhr was just one among many voices in Canada complaining about the way the federal government makes big defence purchasing decisions. At no point, he said, did it occur to him that he would wind up in his current position - as the prime minister's point person for fixing Canada's sclerotic military procurement system. 'I find it very ironic that I was one of many that complained ... why does it take so long?' said Fuhr, 59, in an interview with The Canadian Press. Fuhr knows first hand how the state of Canada's military procurement system feels to people on the ground - how byzantine government rules make vital equipment purchases move at molasses speed, leaving soldiers and pilots without the tools they need to fight a modern conflict. The once-prominent critic of former prime minister Stephen Harper government's management of defence - notably the original F-35 stealth fighter procurement process - is stepping up to change how the system works. Prime Minister Mark Carney named Fuhr secretary of state for defence procurement on May 13, giving him a new, narrowly focused junior role in cabinet. The Carney government's focus on reforming defence procurement is happening as new threats emerge on the world stage - and as Canada and other NATO allies come under heavy pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to ramp up defence spending by a staggering amount. Canada is also looking for ways to bolster its domestic defence industry and partner more with Europe as it pivots away from a more isolationist and protectionist United States. For the first time in a long time, the military is a core government priority. 'I feel good about it,' Fuhr said. 'Canadians are supportive of us being more involved in defence spending. There's a big opportunity for our industries and businesses in defence and being able to pull our weight on the world stage with our defence relationships.' It's also a moment of uncertainty - for Carney's government, for Canada and the world. Fuhr's background in the air force trained him to prepare for the unexpected. On Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked airliners and crashed them into major U.S. buildings, Fuhr was in Inuvik, where he was flying a CF-18 on force-projection exercises. He spent the security crisis patrolling the Arctic skies as events unfolded south of the border, then was sent to CFB Comox on Vancouver Island, where he was kept on alert until Canada relaxed its air defence posture. 'It was pretty surreal,' he said. 'In the moment, we don't know if there's more. We just know these airplanes are coming and they have to land somewhere.' He was in the Royal Canadian Air Force for two decades and at one point was in charge of overseeing all of Canada's CF-18 Hornets. Formerly a conservative-inclined voter, he made the jump into federal politics with the Liberals a decade ago after becoming frustrated with the contentious F-35 purchase. Fuhr warned that the cost of the deal was doomed to explode and that the process had gone awry. He was right: the budget for the F-35 purchase has since ballooned and Ottawa is conducting a review of the project in response to the Trump administration's trade chaos. Still, Fuhr shrugs off the idea that he would chime in with his opinions about the F-35 at the cabinet table. 'My strong opinions are 10 years old, and a lot has changed in 10 years,' the Kelowna MP said. But he could end up helping to decide how the next big-ticket items roll out. Carney made numerous defence commitments in the spring election. One of them was a promise to establish a new defence procurement agency to speed up equipment purchases for the military, and that agency falls under Fuhr's mandate. The party's election platform pledged legislative changes to 'expand risk-based approaches' to purchasing approvals, 'centralize expertise from across government' and 'streamline the way we buy equipment for the military.' Canada's military has suffered from peacetime budget woes under governments of various stripes since the Cold War ended. Major items of military equipment are nearing the end of their usable lifespan and new purchases are moving slowly through a risk-averse and slow-moving bureaucracy. For the past half century, military purchasing decisions tended to involve multiple government departments. Carney's plan for this new agency would create one main point of contact, as in wartime. 'We're trapped outside the technology cycle, which is a really difficult place to be, and we have to get it done faster. It has to be more organized. It has to be easier for industry,' Fuhr said. Canada, in other words, is pushing for a military comeback. Fuhr is fresh off of a comeback of his own. He became a Liberal MP in 2015, when he rallied support from unlikely corners like the local Green Party, whose candidate stepped down to endorse Fuhr. A former chair of the House of Commons defence committee, he's been around the political block. But he was defeated in 2019 by Conservative Tracy Gray. He didn't run in 2021 but returned to the ballot in April, and this time he defeated Gray. This isn't the first time the government has tried to reform procurement. It's also not the first time there's been a cabinet-level position tied to procurement. The Harper government tapped Julian Fantino as associate minister of defence to overhaul procurement, and Justin Trudeau's Liberals promised multiple defence procurement reforms in the 2015 and 2019 elections. Neither government moved the needle much - and both failed to spend enough to address the Canadian Armed Forces equipment gap. Fuhr insisted it's different this time. 'If it was ever going to happen, it's going to happen now,' he said. He said Canada has to make a major 'lift' to meet its alliance defence commitments and Carney 'wants to get it done.' When asked what he brings to the role, Fuhr pointed not to his time in the air but to his work on the ground with the military and his family's aerospace business, SkyTrac Systems, which they eventually sold. 'I know what it's like for industry to try and get involved in defence procurement because I lived that life for a while,' he said. 'I bring a well-rounded skill set, not just I flew airplanes.' Fuhr might be out of the military but he can't stay out of the skies. Right up until he decided to run for office again, he was testing and certifying pilots on instrument ratings, ensuring they can fly by instruments alone. The retired air force major in his spare time flies a Vans RV8, an kit-built two-seater aircraft he purchased several years ago. The small, low-wing recreational craft is painted to look like a fighter jet - he even has a shark mouth painted on the nose of the plane. He may not have much time to get up in the air this summer. He'll be in and out of meetings with officials drafting up blueprints for the new procurement agency, sorting out its size and scope. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CNN
21 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump's ‘reciprocal' tariff pause is about to expire. Cue the confusion
The 90-day deadline President Donald Trump set for countries to make trade deals with the United States or risk substantially higher tariffs is just days away. What will happen after that's reached at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 9 is anyone's best guess. The stakes could not be higher, with the entire global economy on notice. On April 2, a date Trump dubbed 'Liberation Day,' he unveiled new, 'reciprocal' tariff rates for key US trading partners, with some levies as high as 50%. Collectively, the rates were the highest the US has charged on foreign goods in over a century. Economists quickly sounded alarms about a recession hitting not just certain countries, but rather the whole world. As the tariffs went into effect on April 9, they sparked a sell-off on Wall Street and the bond market rebelled, forcing Trump to announce a three-month pause to give countries more time to solidify deals with the US, saying investors 'were getting a little bit yippy, a little afraid.' Since then, almost all goods the US imports have been subject to a minimum 10% tariff. Stocks, meanwhile, have not only recovered all those losses but have set multiple new record highs. And inflation has barely budged. But if tariffs start to rise again and inflation roars back, those gains could quickly get erased all over again. After months of meeting with foreign government officials and countless claims that several trading partners were on the cusp of completing deals, only three have been announced. One of those, with Vietnam, has yet to be finalized and few details are known about it. Still, the Trump administration is advertising that a flurry of deals are forthcoming. At the same time, the president has threatened to send letters to countries that don't ink deals, telling them the rate at which their exports to the US will be taxed. Leading up to July 9, Trump administration officials threatened to simply return to April tariff rates, or possibly even higher levies. They also floated the possibility of extending the pause for countries 'negotiating in good faith,' without defining what that means or which it includes. It's not clear where Trump, who will get the ultimate say, stands. 'We can do whatever we want. We could extend it; we could make it shorter,' Trump recently said. 'I'd like to make it shorter. I'd like to just sent letters out to everybody, 'Congratulations, you're paying 25%.'' 'We'll look at how a country treats us — are they good, are they not so good — some countries we don't care, we'll just send a high number out,' Trump also recently said. On Friday, he said he'd begin sending letters over the coming days. 'They'll range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs,' Trump said. For many countries, such rates would deal an even bigger economic blow compared to the levels Trump announced in April. But countries may have the opportunity to still negotiate, given Trump said most new rates won't take effect until August 1. The deal Trump announced on Wednesday with Vietnam, which calls for minimum tariffs of 20% on Vietnamese goods, double the rate throughout the three-month pause, has raised the possibility that countries may not be able to score lower rates even if they reach a trade agreement. But considering tariffs on Vietnam were set to rise to a minimum of 46% if the rates Trump announced in April held — which was among the highest Trump announced — 20% suddenly feels like a relief. That may be an intentional strategy on Trump's part, allowing him to stick to his major campaign promise of levying higher tariffs on other nations in an effort to raise revenues and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. 'On balance, we take the US-Vietnam accord as a positive step toward more durable bilateral deals for the US and toward greater clarity for investors,' Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a note last week. 'Headline risks around trade may persist as negotiations continue, but we think the market impact should moderate as President Trump's negotiating tactics become increasingly familiar,' he said. 'Ultimately, we expect the US administration to prioritize economic stability over more maximalist tariffs, especially ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.'
