Carney pledges regular updates on pivot from U.S. and to ‘never sugar-coat’ issues

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says he plans to regularly update Canadians with a frank assessment of efforts to diversify away from the U.S.

In a 10-minute video posted this morning, Carney says Canada’s deep economic ties with the U.S. used to be a major strength, but are now a weakness.

Carney says it would be wrong to try waiting for the U.S. to resume decades of co-operation from the past, saying Ottawa instead is pushing forward with a plan to diversify.

The prime minister says he plans to regularly update Canadians about what the government is trying to do and “never sugar-coat” challenges and what isn’t working.