Dear Team Canada — Day 218 — Who Cares? We Do.

The Carney Letters — an unauthorized series by Wayne Horton

Dear Friends,

Before I outline the major projects now underway — the work that is reshaping our economy and shifting Canada’s place in the world — I wanted to pause and speak directly to you about something smaller, stranger, and unexpectedly important.

Last week, a reporter asked me (several times) when I last spoke with President Trump. I deflected, she pressed, and I said two words that hit the news cycle harder than any tariff announcement:

I regret the phrasing. It was too sharp for the seriousness of the moment. When I stood in the House the next day, I said plainly that it was a poor choice of words — and that when I make a mistake, I will admit it. Canadians deserve a leader who does that. We’ve had too many who don’t.

But I also want to be honest with you: those two words came from a real place.

They came from the knowledge that Canada can no longer afford to peg its national confidence to the mood swings of any one individual — even the President of the United States. Especially the current President of the United States.

They came from the data we are seeing every single morning.

And they came from the reality that Canada is winning battles many believed we could not win.

So tonight, I want to explain — calmly, factually — why those two words slipped out, and why the real story behind them should give you more optimism than anxiety.

The “Who Cares?” Moment Wasn’t Dismissive. It Was Diagnostic.

At the G20 in Johannesburg, the questions were all the same form:

“Have you spoken to him?”
“When exactly?”
“How many minutes?”

Not one question about the structural problems we are solving, the diversification we are pursuing, or the resilience Canadian workers have shown during the most aggressive economic pressure campaign in our history.

At some point, a person reaches for honesty. As I wrote in a previous letter, there is no good faith on the other side of the negotiating table. At best, there are performative attempts to coerce and intimidate. Speaking to Donald Trump or not speaking to Donald Trump yields the exact same results, except one is quieter.

The focus of my day is not on the goings-on in the United States; we have achieved a relative stasis borne of mutual dependence and interconnected economies. In the near term, our growth and our future aren’t anchored in Washington at all. They’re anchored here — in Canada — and in the partners who have chosen to invest in us. The evidence of those truths abounds.

For context, that morning’s briefing had included:

• an update showing U.S. tariffs now affect roughly 6% of total Canadian exports by value,

• confirmation that Indonesia will eliminate 95% of tariffs on Canadian goods under our new agreement,

• and a final report from the UAE indicating that investors are preparing up to $70 billion in capital deployment inside Canada over the next decade.

Those are structural moves — moves that change our long-term trajectory.

So when I said “Who cares?”, what I meant was:

Who cares about the theatre when the real work is happening elsewhere?

I shouldn’t have said it that way. But the sentiment — the prioritization — was not wrong.

As one senior official in my Johannesburg briefing dryly remarked:

“The U.S. is a partner. It is not the plan.”

And increasingly, that is true.

Meanwhile, the Economy Delivered Something Remarkable

Last week’s national accounts confirm what many analysts doubted was even possible:

• Canada’s GDP grew at roughly 2.6–2.7% annualized in Q3.

• Inflation remains near the 2% target.

• Unemployment is stabilizing rather than spiking.

These are not small accomplishments.

They happened during:

• a heated tariff war,

• a deliberate attempt by the Trump Administration to damage our manufacturing base,

• a global energy price shock, and

• accelerating geopolitical instability.

You do not get GDP growth and anchored inflation in those conditions unless something deeper than luck is at play.

As one economist put it to me this week:

“Prime Minister, this feels like watching a plane climb during a stall warning.”

In aviation terms, that’s not supposed to happen.

In policy terms, it means the strategy is working — and the stall warning may have been premature.

Still conservative commentators in Canada and the United States insist the economy is “running on fumes,” yet every week I meet with more world leaders eager to invest in Canada, and more Canadian business owners preparing to expand. The irony, of course, is that conservative media does not actually want conservative economic strategy to succeed — because the results would benefit all Canadians, not just an elite few.

We are not clear of turbulence. But the wings are holding — and the lift is real.

The SAFE Breakthrough: Why Europe Just Opened Its Doors to Canada

Today’s announcement marks something unprecedented in Canadian defence and industrial policy.

Canada has formally concluded negotiations to join the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative — the central procurement and financing pillar of Europe’s Readiness 2030 plan.

This is not symbolic.
This is not incremental.
This is structural.

SAFE mobilizes up to $244 billion in loans for EU member states to rearm — part of a broader $1.3 trillion European defence modernization effort. As Europe urgently acquires ammunition, drones, artillery systems, missiles, and next-generation infantry technologies, Canada will be the only non-European country with preferential access to that massive demand.

One NATO official put it to me bluntly last week:

“Prime Minister, Europe needs reliable industrial partners. The U.S. is no longer predictable in procurement terms. Canada is.”

For Canadian workers, engineers, and manufacturers, this is the largest defence-sector opening in generations. It means:

• new markets for Canadian aerospace, cyber, robotics, and advanced materials firms

• new suppliers for the Canadian Armed Forces

• massive private investment into Canadian plants and capacity

• high-paying skilled careers across dozens of communities

And it accelerates our own rearmament at a moment when global stability is deteriorating.

As Minister McGuinty said today:
“SAFE is a force multiplier for Canada.”
He is right.

And as Minister Sidhu noted:
“This is a generational opportunity for our defence sector.”
He is right as well.

This is the kind of structural progress that makes tariff skirmishes look like background noise — the kind of progress that turns a comment like “Who cares?” from a misstep into something closer to the truth about our structural strategy:

Our future does not depend on the whims of a foreign president. It depends on the choices we make today, and the partnerships we build for the next generation.

SAFE is one of those choices.

Why Canadians Should Care

Let me offer you an anecdote from Question Period.

After my apology, Mr. Poilievre rose, pointing angrily at a card in his hand — the kind of theatrical prop that always precedes a misleading claim.

He said:

“Workers on the line care, Prime Minister. Canadians care. Why don’t you?”

What he didn’t expect was the answer.

Because the answer is:

• We care enough to diversify our markets.

• We care enough to shield workers from a foreign president’s temper.

• We care enough to build supply chains that no one can hold hostage.

• We care enough to keep inflation down and GDP up during a storm.

• We care enough to do the slow, unglamorous work that actually moves a country forward.

A member whispered to me as I sat down:

“You can always tell who’s doing their jobs. They’re the ones who don’t need props.”

That, too, is part of the shift.

I promised you I’d keep my elbows up. This is what that looks like.

There is a quote from a steelworker in Hamilton that has stayed with me all year. He said it after one of Trump’s earlier tariff volleys:

“We don’t need a Prime Minister who panics. We need one who plans.”

That is what the last seven months have been: planning — and executing — a long-term repositioning of Canada’s economy.

And it is working.

So yes, I regret how those two words sounded. But I do not regret the underlying conviction.

When it comes to:

• GDP growth

• inflation stability

• diversified trade

• foreign investment

• defence partnerships

• and national economic security

Canada cares.
I care.
And you care — which is why we are winning ground no one expected us to gain this year.

Understand this: past performance does not guarantee future success. I warned you that things will probably get ugly. I didn’t promise growth in the third quarter. There are many underlying factors — strong winds that filled our sails. That’s circumstance. The fruits of our strategy will not mature for years. We will continue to see results as we move forward, but unless the U.S. suddenly develops good faith and returns to an understanding of the benefits of mutual cooperation, we will also be facing headwinds that will impede our progress. When our trade agreements are implemented and our major projects are actively being built, or go online, today’s growth will seem inconsequential by comparison.

But for today, we should enjoy it. Today that growth is very consequential indeed.

What Comes Next

In the next few days, I want to start communicating more openly about our major projects. Canadians are investing in these initiatives, and Canadians deserve to know what they’re investing in and what they stand to gain.

I have met with labour and industry leaders across the country, and foreign counterparts in over 28 targeted partner countries over the last 218 days. We’re not investing in the dark. We are not investing alone. We’re optimizing value streams and ensuring that there will be markets for our future production — and that we can reach those markets easily and efficiently. Our projects support everything from supply chain redundancy to energy security, to manufacturing revival, to the new trade corridors opening from Jakarta to Dubai.

Tonight, I simply wanted to clarify something:

The “Who cares?” moment was not flippancy. It was focus — a focus we need to share and be confident in.

And that focus is paying dividends.

With determination,
With clarity,
With our elbows up,

Wayne Horton
Director, Unauthorized Communications

(writing on behalf of Mark Carney, who remains bound by conventions to which I am not)

Return to series index