Canada’s prime minister-elect, Mark Carney, issued a strong statement on Sunday against the United States, vowing to win President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Carney wasted no time defending “the Canadian way of life” after the Liberal Party decisively elected him to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“We didn’t ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” Carney told a boisterous crowd of party supporters in Ottawa.
“So the Americans, they should make no mistake, in trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” added the 59-year-old, who will take over from Trudeau in the coming days.
In his victory speech, Carney warned that the US under Trump was seeking to seize control of Canada.
“The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country,” he said.
“These are dark days, dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust.”
He accused the US president of “attacking Canadian workers, families, and businesses,” adding, “We cannot let him succeed.”
“We’re all being called to stand up for each other and for the Canadian way of life.”
Carney, who formerly commanded both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, easily defeated his primary competitor, Trudeau’s former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who held numerous top cabinet roles in the Liberal government that was elected in 2015.
Carney received 85.9 percent of the vote, while Freeland received only 8%.
Carney campaigned on a promise to oppose Trump, who has threatened to annex Canada and disrupted bilateral trade with unpredictable tariffs since taking office.
Carney opined that his experience makes him the ideal counter to the US president.
He has portrayed himself as a renowned economic crisis manager who led the Bank of Canada through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the Bank of England through the turbulence that followed the 2016 Brexit vote.
Delivering a farewell address, Trudeau said, “Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge.”
Celebrating the outcome of the election in Ottawa, party loyalist Cory Stevenson said, “The Liberal party has the wind in its sails.”
“We chose the person who could best face off against (Tory leader) Pierre Poilievre in the next election and deal with Donald Trump,” he told AFP.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
