PM Carney defends record as economy sheds 84,000 jobs in February

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OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney is defending his economic record amid the latest Statistics Canada jobs report that showed the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 per cent in February, up two points from the previous month.

Canada’s economy also unexpectedly lost 84,000 jobs in February, the biggest Canadian job loss in four years.

Many economic analysts expected the labour market would gain 10,000 jobs in February.

Speaking to reporters in Bardufoss, Norway on Friday, Carney was asked directly about his handling of the economy.

“If you look at the performance of the labour market over the course of the last six months, we’ve created over 80,000 jobs net over the last six months,” Carney said. “The United States has created 6,000 jobs. The United States, 11 times the size of our economy.”

“Unemployment (of) 6.7 per cent is lower than the level when I came into came into office a year ago,” he added.

After Carney won the federal election, unemployment hit 7.0 per cent in May 2025 – the highest level since September 2016 outside of the pandemic.

Uncertainty surrounding trade with U.S.

The prime minister also acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the trading relationship with the United States as a factor in the current economic picture.

“Given the scale of the trade actions, the uncertainty that is associated, as well as with the trade actions by the United States, that that is causing big adjustments in the Canadian economy,” Carney said. “That’s why we’re making major investments across a whole range of areas.”

During last year’s federal election campaign, Carney pledged to create higher paying jobs and build the fastest growing economy in the G7.

Last month, the Liberal government unveiled its new defence industrial strategy aimed at creating 125,000 jobs by 2035.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, is blaming Carney in part for the latest jobs report.

“We are saddened to see that Canada is in the weakest position after a year of Mark Carney,” Poilievre said while in Windsor, Ont. on Friday. “It is true, we do have global problems, and we cannot discount or try to control what President Trump does. But all the countries are facing those tariffs.”