Carney welcomes former minister Sean Fraser’s return to federal politics

Liberal Leader Mark Carney was in Halifax where he unveiled his party's defence platform.

HALIFAX — Liberal Leader Mark Carney was all smiles Tuesday as former cabinet minister Sean Fraser became the latest Liberal MP to reverse his decision not to run again following the party’s resurgence in the polls.

But later in the day, Carney blundered when praising another candidate, who is considered a big get for the Liberals to add to their list of candidates. He quickly apologized.

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Visiting the Steeple Green Books store in Musquodoboit Harbour, N.S. with Fraser Tuesday afternoon, Carney praised several of his candidates for bringing a great diversity of knowledge and expertise to the campaign.

His list included Nathalie Provost, a survivor of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, who is running for the Liberals on the South Shore of Montreal. Provost helped found the PolySouvient gun-control advocacy group and has served as a spokeswoman for it.

But Carney mispronounced her last name as “Pronovost” and misidentified the tragedy that changed her life.

“Natalie Pronovost, who, under the tragedy of the shootings at Concordia, became a social justice activist, and she put her hand up, and she’s running with us,” he said.

The Concordia University massacre in Montreal occurred in 1992.

“I spoke to the candidate for Chateauguay--Les Jardins-de-Napierville this afternoon to apologize for what was clearly a slip earlier today. My respect and gratitude toward Nathalie Provost, for her commitment to our country in this critical time and for all these past years are heartfelt,” he said in a statement released to reporters. “I look forward to working together on this campaign during this crucial election.”

Carney was thrilled to welcome Fraser back to the list of candidates. Fraser confirmed in a social media post Tuesday morning that he would run, after saying in December he would not so he could spend more time with his family. He said on Facebook that Carney had called him on Monday to ask him to “join the team that will be responding to this unprecedented economic threat from the United States.”

“I said yes,” he said. “There is too much at stake in this election for me to be comfortable sitting on the sidelines.”

Later he told reporters at the campaign stop with Carney that he was running “not just because of the threat that Donald Trump presents to our economy but because we have the person to defend Canada’s interests that is more equipped, more experienced than just about anybody else in the world.”

Fraser said it was an “honour and privilege” to be running again, adding that Carney is one of the “most respected voices” on economic issues, and is someone who knows what it’s like to “stand up for an economy.”

“We have the right guy for the right time up against the wrong guy at the worst time,” Fraser said.

Carney said that when Fraser made his decision, Canada wasn’t yet dealing with Trump or U.S. tariffs and sovereignty threats.

“Sean, to his great credit, has put his hand up at a challenging time, incredibly challenging time, and folks, it will make a huge difference to the quality of the government, the strength of our response,” Carney said. “We want different types of people around the Cabinet table, different types of people in Parliament.”

Speaking to reporters, Fraser said he had made peace with the idea there was going to be “life after politics” but then spoke to community members worried their jobs were at risk.

Asked about his decision given the turnaround in polling numbers, which has the Liberals in the lead, Fraser said his riding of Central Nova was “never a sure bet” and historically one of the most Conservative ridings in Nova Scotia.

“This is not a Liberal stronghold,” Fraser said. “You can take nothing for granted.”

Fraser said Carney had promised to help him find a better balance between being an MP and a father.

“Honestly, it’s high time that we make these jobs sincerely family-friendly and I trust him to do it,” Fraser said on Facebook.

Fraser is at least the fifth Liberal MP to change their mind in recent weeks about not running again.

Ontario MP Anita Anand, now the minister of industry, announced her intention not to run again in January, but by late February had reversed course.

Ontario MP and former minister Helena Jaczek and New Brunswick MP Wayne Long both said they weren’t running again but now are. And Toronto MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who announced early in 2023 that he wouldn’t run again, changed his mind in December when former prime minister Justin Trudeau added him to his cabinet as housing minister.

Carney visited the Irving Shipyard in Halifax for his campaign announcement Tuesday, where he was asked whether he has any concerns about Canada sharing confidential information with the United States following Monday’s explosive report in The Atlantic that top U.S. national security leaders included a journalist in a group chat about military strikes.

Carney said that information leaks are a serious issue and lessons must be learned when they happen.

“We have a very strong intelligence partnership with the Americans through Five Eyes,” he said. “Mistakes do happen, but what’s important is how people react to those mistakes.”

Carney said that in the face of the “most difficult evolution of the new threat environment,” Canada needs to become “more and more Canadian in our defence capabilities.”

Carney pledged to accelerate Canada’s defence spending to get it to the two per cent NATO target “by or before” 2030, two years ahead of the schedule set by Trudeau. It’s a policy Carney first outlined during his leadership run.

Carney is also promising to modernize recruitment in the Canadian Armed Forces to make up a shortfall. He said he will do that by boosting salaries by an unspecified amount, building more on-base housing and improving health and child-care services.

The defence plan includes new submarines and more heavy icebreakers, also previously promised by the Trudeau government.

Carney said he will create drone capabilities to defend undersea infrastructure in the Arctic and is also pledging to give the Canadian Coast Guard a new mandate and equipment for maritime surveillance.

He declined to give details on Tuesday, saying that information will be included in the party’s election platform.

Article by Kyle Duggan.

With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa and Emilie Bergeron.