Carney’s new Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations is “Team Canada” hypocrisy all over again.
While Carney says this is a “diverse group”, it is clearly a group of corporate elites, representing the Canadian capitalist class. Of the 24 members, nine are CEOs, two bankers and six represent major employer associations.
Apparently, these people are supposed to represent “us”. Minister Dominic LeBlanc presented things as a case of “governments, workers, businesses, and industry leaders pull[ing] in the same direction.” Carney says his committee allows the government to draw on “the broadest perspectives”.
But just one look at the resume of some of these people shows what a sham this is.
Team Ca… pitalist
For example, Luc Thériault, president of pulp and paper company Domtar Canada, sits on the committee. During his time as CFO, the company has laid off thousands of workers amid restructuring plans. Throughout this ordeal, Mr. Thériault kept his job, while the workers were treated as disposable.
Incredibly, CEO of Nutrien Ken Seitz is also on this committee. Just last year, Nutrien, a major potash producer, chose to build a new export terminal in Washington instead of British Columbia. One of the major reasons for Nutrien’s decision was labour disruptions in Canada. In other words, Nutrien doesn’t like unions that fight for better working conditions. How “Canadian”!
Then there is François Poirier, CEO of TC Energy. In March 2026, he stated that capital feels more “welcome” in the United States than in Canada, to justify expanding the company’s activities there rather than here. This great Canadian patriot has even acted as an advisor to the Trump administration!
Clearly we are not on the same team. Canadian business owners have always prioritized their profits over “the nation”—in particular over the interests of Canadian workers.
But rest assured, it’s not just corporate elites on this committee—there are also politicians who have built their careers serving corporate elites!
Jean Charest, the ex-premier of Quebec implemented one of the worst austerity programs in the history of the province. This assault on Quebec workers culminated in his attempt to impose a $1,625 increase in tuition fees using batons and tear gas.
Ralph Goodale, an ex-Minister in the Chretien-Martin Liberal governments of the 1990s and early 2000s oversaw the most drastic cuts to healthcare and education in the history of the country. Also on the committee are Erin O’Toole and Lisa Raitt, who were ministers in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government—a government which repeatedly attacked the right to strike, bailed out corporations during the Great Recession and cut funding for social services.
There is no reason to believe that these declared enemies of the working class would suddenly start looking out for the interests of working-class Canadians.
Down with class collaboration
Joining these enemies of the working class are two labour leaders: Lana Payne from Unifor and Magali Picard from the FTQ.
The justification for their participation is that they will somehow guarantee that the interests of workers are taken into consideration during the trade negotiations. This is a bit like saying they will be asking a lion to eat lettuce—a rather utopian endeavour.
The presence of Magali Picard is particularly shocking as just last fall she made waves by proposing a “grève sociale” (general strike) on May 1 against the CAQ government’s attacks on the unions. She ruffled some feathers in the establishment when she refused to shake hands with the labour minister. The bourgeois media in Quebec attacked her viciously for this.
Unfortunately, Picard, who is the president of a union that represents over 600,000 workers, has subsequently changed her tone. The FTQ has made zero plans to mobilize for a strike and instead has adopted a collaborative tone, meeting with the new leader of the Quebec Liberal party—the traditional party of Québécois bosses!
This class collaboration will go precisely nowhere. Canadian capitalists have no more loyalty to Canadian workers than American companies do. The ruling class in Canada looks out for their own interests and will not hesitate to throw the workers under the bus if it serves their interests.
It is not Donald Trump who is laying people off, or moving factories to the United States, it is Canadian corporations who have decided that their profits are more important than Canadian workers. The only way to protect jobs is through an independent working class approach.
Labour leaders should not be uniting with the capitalists, but fighting against any attempt by them to pass off the cost of this trade war onto the backs of the working class. This takes a militant class struggle policy—such as what Picard suggested in November, not what she’s doing now.
