U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick continues to accuse Canada’s prime minister of “trying to blow up” a deal with the United States to gain “political leverage.” “This is about the Liberal Party and Mark Carney trying to use a kerfluffle with the United States to gain political leverage,” he said during a television interview with U.S. network CNBC on Wednesday. “They’ve got an independent party, the sovereign party vote in Quebec on October 5. They’ve got an independence vote that starts the process (in) Alberta, who always feels ripped off by Ottawa and the left of Canada,” Lutnick said. “You know he’s just trying to fight with us to try to gain that leverage.” It should be noted that the “sovereign party vote” Lutnick is referring to is Quebec’s provincial election and there are no referendum questions on the ballot in regards to Quebec’s sovereignty. When it comes to the Alberta referendum, the province’s premier, Danielle Smith, has said she plans to vote to stay in Canada. Lutnick went on to say that Canada is the worst performing nation when it comes to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “They’ve got good people. They’ve got great resources. Why do they underperform,” Lutnick said of Canada. “Ontario, with the great city of Toronto, would be last out of our 51st states. And you say, really, Toronto and Ontario? They just don’t perform per capita because they don’t have the right tools. They don’t have the right regulation. They don’t have the right leadership.” ‘Start being serious’ Lutnick’s comments come one day after Prime Minister Mark Carney called on the Trump administration to “start being serious” about negotiations. “And when the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough, and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” Carney said Tuesday when answering questions in Ottawa following three byelection wins the night before. “But it’s not constructive” he said. Experts say the constant barrage of provocative social media posts is all apart of Trump’s plan to distract voters. ‘Controlling the communications agenda’ Andrew MacDougall, who previously worked as the director of communications for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, told CTV News on Tuesday that Canada has become an easy target. “This president knows that his superpower, if you will, is controlling the communications agenda,” MacDougall said. “He can now go to these platforms and do and say the most provocative, ridiculous and extreme things.” Bill Galston, a senior fellow with the U.S.-based think tank Brookings Institute, said the U.S. president appears to be “trying things almost randomly to see whether anything” resonates ahead of the U.S. midterms in November. “I think the president is now flailing on some level,” Galston told CTV News. “He realizes that he is losing control of the situation and losing control of the electorate.” With files from CTV’s Washington Bureau Chief Joy Malbon
