Quote attacking Trump falsely attributed to Mark Carney

"They'll never accept it, but everyone who cast a vote for Donald Trump did real, generations-long damage to the United States and the west in exchange for essentially nothing of value," says text that appears to be attributed to Carney, above an image of the Canadian prime minister in an April 10, 2025 post on Facebook.

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Screenshot from Facebook taken April 16, 2025

Similar posts spread widely across Facebook and other platforms, including Instagram, Threads, X and Bluesky. Some racked up tens of thousands of interactions.

Carney, who succeeded Justin Trudeau as prime minister in March, is weeks into a campaign against Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for a snap election scheduled to take place April 28  -- and has become a frequent target of online misinformation throughout the race.

The Liberal leader came to power as Trump upended global markets with sweeping tariffs on Canada and other longstanding trade partners, sparking a trade war and fears of a recession.

The US president has since put a temporary pause on tariffs on most countries except China -- a move Carney called a "welcome reprieve."

Carney had previously vowed to "fight" against the levies, which he warned would "fundamentally change the global trading system."

He has also leaned into the catchphrase "Elbows up!" -- a nod to the aggressive hockey style of legendary player Gordie Howe -- which Canadians have adopted as an anti-Trump rallying cry.

But the quote spreading online about Trump providing "essentially nothing of value" is not Carney's.

Keyword and reverse image searches traced the statement not to the prime minister, but to a Bluesky user known as "southpaw."

In a March 27 post, southpaw shared a clip of Carney responding to steep tariffs Trump had imposed on vehicle imports. The prime minister says the "old relationship" of economic, security and military ties between the United States and Canada is "over" (archived here).

Reacting to Carney's words, southpaw commented: "They'll never accept it, but everyone who cast a vote for Donald Trump did real, generations-long damage to the United States and the west in exchange for essentially nothing of value."

They'll never accept it, but everyone who cast a vote for Donald Trump did real, generations-long damage to the United States and the west in exchange for essentially nothing of value.

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— southpaw ( @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) March 27, 2025 at 4:07 PM

Nowhere in his March 27 address did Carney make that statement (archived here).

The account later followed up as the quote got misattributed to explain that Carney did not utter those words.

"Just want to clarify this is something I said in reaction to Mark Carney's speech; it wasn't in the speech," southpaw wrote in an April 10 reply (archived here).

Just want to clarify this is something I said in reaction to Mark Carney's speech; it wasn't in the speech. bsky.app/profile/indy...

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— southpaw ( @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 7:05 AM

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about Canada's elections here.