Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney appeared to take a hilarious swipe at Donald Trump — without even having to say his name.
Carney was speaking to Liberal lawmakers Friday as he highlighted a whirlwind week for his government and touted major new investments in Canada.
Then he got to energy.
Carney pointed to an enormous clean-energy project involving Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, the federal government and the Innu Nation that is expected to generate 14 gigawatts of hydro, wind and storage capacity.
To put that number into perspective, Carney offered an unmistakably American comparison.
The project, he said, would produce the functional equivalent of “18 Hoover Dams.”
Then came the hands.
As Carney repeated the phrase “18 Hoover Dams,” he twice moved his hands apart in the distinctive accordion-like motion that Donald Trump has become famous for using while emphasizing the size or importance of something.
The room erupted in laughter.
Carney never needed to explain the joke.
The gesture was apparently recognizable enough on its own.
The Associated Press described the moment as Carney appearing to mimic Trump and noted that he used the president’s familiar accordion-like hand gesture twice while emphasizing the Hoover Dam comparison.
And it wasn’t Carney’s only apparent Trump reference.
While discussing a new Canadian business tax break, Carney pointed out that Canada’s effective tax rate on new investment is expected to fall to 6.4 percent — less than half the U.S. rate.
Then he borrowed another phrase closely associated with the American president.
“We didn’t need a big beautiful bill,” Carney said. “We needed a targeted initiative.”
That line also drew laughter.
Trump repeatedly used the phrase “big beautiful bill” to promote his signature tax-and-spending legislation.
The jokes landed against a much more serious backdrop.
Relations between Canada and the United States have deteriorated sharply amid Trump’s tariffs, his repeated talk about Canada becoming the “51st state,” and the collapse of trade negotiations between the two countries.
Carney, meanwhile, has been aggressively trying to demonstrate that Canada can reduce its dependence on the United States.
This week alone, he traveled to Europe, addressed the European Parliament and pushed for a much deeper economic and strategic relationship between Canada and the European Union.
He has also been promoting Canada as an increasingly attractive destination for global investment.
The clean-energy project behind Friday’s joke is no small proposal.
According to the Canadian government, the planned development would combine hydroelectric power, wind and storage to produce 14 gigawatts of renewable energy.
That is where the “18 Hoover Dams” comparison comes from.
The government says the project would generate enough electricity to light, heat and cool every home in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver combined.
But on Friday, the sheer scale of the project gave Carney an opportunity to make his point in a much more memorable way.
“18 Hoover Dams,” he repeated.
Then out came the hands.
For anyone who has watched Trump speak for more than a few minutes, the gesture was difficult to miss.
Carney moved his hands apart in the same accordion-like fashion that has become one of Trump’s most recognizable speaking mannerisms.
The audience laughed.
Carney simply continued.
It was a tiny moment in a speech dominated by investment, energy and Canada’s changing place in the global economy.
But given the extraordinary deterioration in relations between Trump and Canada, it carried an unmistakable political undertone.
Carney has spent months trying to position Canada as capable of standing on its own while building stronger relationships beyond Washington.
On Friday, he delivered that message with numbers, investment announcements and economic arguments.
And for a few seconds, he apparently decided to deliver it with his hands.
About the Author
