Carney's offer to MAGA, advice for Alberta, and well-wishes for an outgoing Liberal MP

It was a big week for Prime Minister Mark Carney's one-liners. On two occasions he made headlines for his offers to help U.S. President Donald Trump with his vow to "make America great again" and his advice to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith given what he saw first-hand with Brexit.  Plus, ardent environmentalist Steven Guilbeault has finally had enough, and why one bill proposing easier access to digital evidence has privacy and tech heavyweights sounding alarm bells.
The week that was
Let's start with the most recent development because it could be the most consequential of the week.  While some Liberals may have bristled at Carney's offer to "help make America great again," the olive branch of sorts – or at least an employment of some loaded language – went over like a warm blanket with one key U.S. official.  In case you missed it Thursday, employing U.S. President Donald Trump's marquee slogan, Carney told a New York City business crowd that "Canada strong will help make America great again." And in a first sign of a potential thaw, it appears that line was well received by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra. "PM Carney said something worth repeating today: 'A Canada strong will help make America great again.' I think a lot of Americans can get behind that kind of positive message," he said on X, reposting a video of the prime minister's speech. In that speech, the prime minister detailed his economic diversification strategy, and his plans to recalibrate Canada's relationships and reputation. Touting some key areas where the federal Liberals have made progress, Carney sought to make the case for why Canada and the U.S. should continue to co-operate in key sectors. "Above all, as you would expect, we're focused on things that are good for Canada. This is good for all Canadians, but it’s also good for the United States," the prime minister said. "Because a stronger Canada is a better ally." For more from his speech and fireside chat, the full rundown is here. It didn’t go over quite as well with Carney's biggest critic on this side of the border. Rising in the House of Commons to offer his rebuttal to the prime minister's remarks, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joked that Carney was in New York to "expand his favourite export: speeches." "His elbows were again flapping up and down, in the rhetorical chicken dance, as he cannot seem to decide if integration with the U.S. is a strength or a weakness, he's argued passionately for both positions in the last three months alone," Poilievre said.  Carney was in The Big Apple to pitch Canada to major CEOs and investors.  According to his office, among the bigwigs he had facetime with were representative from BlackRock, Blackstone, and Morgan Stanley. He also "participated in a conversation" with members of a business roundtable, including Netflix, Inc.'s Ted Sarandos, Land O'Lakes Inc.'s Beth Ford, The Estee Lauder Companies Inc.'s Stephane de La Faverie, and Mick Beekhuizen from the Campbell's Company.
Facing questions earlier in the week about what a potential Alberta separation referendum could signal to energy investors at a time where he's pushing for more major projects, the prime minister offered some advice "from experience" to his provincial counterpart.  "In these separation issues, it is often advanced that: 'Vote for this, and it’s a free option.' 'Vote for this, and we will strengthen your hand in future negotiation.' That is a very dangerous bluff," Carney told reporters Monday. As colleague Spencer Van Dyk reports, referencing his time as governor of the Bank of England during Brexit – when the United Kingdom narrowly voted to leave the European Union – the prime minister said that 10 years later they're still "trying to undo what people didn't think they were voting for."  Smith shot back saying it's ultimately for voters in her province to decide, not Ottawa.  "We had 400,000 people sign a petition saying they wanted to vote to remain, and 300,000 sign a petition saying they wanted to vote to leave, so that's 700,000 people who have asked for this to be publicly debated and put on the ballot," she said.  The major Ottawa bubble story of the week was of course Trudeau-era Liberal and staunch environmentalist Steven Guilbeault announcing he'll resign his seat in the House of Commons later this summer.  While he'll continue to be a member of the Liberal caucus until then – giving them one extra vote to pass what they need to before the break –  Guilbeault told CTV News that he's not the only caucus member who's upset with the Liberals' environmental policy shift since last year's election.  "If you look at our campaign platform during the last election — that platform, commitments that we made to Canadians — mentioned climate change 28 times," Guilbeault said in an interview with Vassy Kapelos on Wednesday. "It did not mention 'pipeline' once." "So, I think rightfully so, some people, whether they're Liberal caucus members, whether they're Canadians at large, are wondering what is happening," he added. Carney was courteous about Guilbeault's decision, though he said the deal-making he's been doing towards new natural resource development was "absolutely" worth it.  For more from the outgoing MP in his own words on why he left, and what effort the PMO made to get him to stay, that's here.  Lastly, on the procurement and major project fronts, there were two big announcements this week that could be a signal of things to come.  Does the decision to go with Sweden company Saab's "GlobalEye" aerial warning system signal anything about the non-U.S. origins of other outstanding military procurements? And was the Germans signing on to buy Canadian LNG an attempt to sweeten their submarine bid? Time will tell.