Carney in Turkey says ‘no merit’ to claims of Canada meddling in U.S. midterms

Prime Minister Mark Carney says there is no merit to allegations from Donald Trump’s administration that Canada is interfering in U.S. elections.

“I’m disappointed that their envoy sees that it’s his role to make these suggestions,” he said of U.S. ambassador Pete Hoekstra during a news conference in Istanbul on Friday.

The United States embassy in Canada this week circulated what it called a “fact sheet” that accused Ottawa of trying to sway U.S. politics. American voters are preparing to cast ballots in tight midterm elections that will turn on a small number of closely fought races.

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“The Canadian government brushes off concerns about potential interference in U.S. elections, even as its ministers and premiers openly describe plans to influence American politics in official documents and public appearances,” the U.S. embassy statement alleges.

Mr. Carney referred to these charges as “unsubstantiated claims.”

He said the Canadian government has a “very deep diplomatic presence” in the U.S. and its “hundreds or thousands” of interactions are normal efforts by foreign governments to build relations in the United States.

“We have lots of interaction with American companies, citizens, individuals, and stakeholders more broadly and we’re very careful to not be seen to interfere. We have no intention to interfere with their democratic processes.”

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The Prime Minister said he wasn’t going to point fingers, but that there are lots of concerns about American interference in Canadian political processes.

“I’m not going to get into tit-for-tat,” Mr. Carney said. “The resources of the media here can make their own judgment about the extent to which very, very senior U.S. officials have directly made suggestions to intervene, so to speak, in Canadian sovereignty, Canadian democratic processes, encourage certain outcomes, encourage certain peoples through that process.”

Mr. Hoekstra’s talk of Canadian political interference follows similar accusations last month by Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who told Canadian lobbyists to “get the hell out” of the U.S. and warned Canada against interfering in U.S. midterm elections.

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In a recent interview on a Canadian podcast, Mr. Hoekstra referenced the actions of several Canadian politicians, including Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, and said the U.S. is “closely watching Canadian activities” right now.

“It appears that some of this – from our perspective, in the way we view our elections – could be inferred to be election interference,” the U.S. ambassador told The Really Big Show podcast in a recent episode.

“You have Minister Joly talking about, ‘Of course we are going to target retaliatory tariffs in politically sensitive states,’” he said.

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As another example, Mr. Hoekstra mentioned an Ontario government TV ad that ran in the United States last year that criticized U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.

“We appreciate foreign-policy leaders coming into the United States and those types of things, but you know, keep your nose out of American politics,” Mr. Hoekstra said.

“We’re monitoring it, we’re evaluating it, and if some of it becomes election interference, you know, then America will respond to it.”