{
  "id": 17962302,
  "title": "The new Canada is much like the old one",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/the-new-canada-is-much-like-the-old-one",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-03T12:30:07.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3372924/new-canada-much-old-one"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Pierre Trudeau, who was revered by Canadians, was a prime minister who fiercely maintained Canada's independence from the United States. In present times, Prime Minister Mark Carney, a Liberal, is taking foreign, defense, and economic policies in a more independent direction, moving closer to Europe. This is surprising for younger Canadians who grew up in a US-led global economic order. The Conservative leaders and prime ministers, Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper, followed US policies to avoid backlash against Trudeau and his old-style Liberals. Pierre Poilievre, the current Conservative Party leader, might have won the last election if US President Donald Trump had not antagonized Canadians. Carney is both lucky and unlucky; he can now negotiate with European leaders with a more unified country, after Alberta’s independence referendum was defeated. Trudeau introduced multiculturalism and separated the Canadian Constitution from Britain in 1982, fundamentally changing the national and cultural character of the country. Trump’s hostile attitude towards Trudeau is similar to Nixon and Reagan’s towards Trudeau in the past. Both Trudeau and Carney had to balance ties with Europe and the US like Trudeau did. Trudeau had genuine statesmen in Europe to deal with on trade and defense, while Carney negotiates with European leaders like Macron, Merz, von der Leyen, and Kallas. Trudeau faced the Soviet threat while Carney faces the Russian threat. They met the French president on Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a French archipelago that had its first official visit by a Canadian prime minister. They want to cooperate on defense, critical minerals, and manufacturing. The EU has yet to ratify a decade-old trade deal with Canada, while the US takes about 70% of Canadian exports.",
  "summary": "I came of age in Canada during the Pierre Trudeau years – the Trudeau whom Canadians actually respect – as a high school student from Hong Kong. Back then, Canadian politics meant deliberate independence from the United States. Some Canadians today, especially younger ones, seem amazed that Prime Minister Mark Carney, a Liberal like Trudeau, is charting foreign, defence and economic policies more…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}