Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed a long-time Democrat political operative to a newly-created senior position in his government, the latest action in a long history between prominent Democrats colluding with the country’s leader to oppose the Trump administration. The two countries are now embroiled in a tense back-and-forth years in the making that threatens American interests on trade and national security.
In mid-July, Carney appointed Maia Johnson as Chief Operating Officer of the Prime Minister’s Office. The position is the equivalent to White House Chief of Staff, and she is the first person to hold the title in the Canadian government. Johnson also concurrently serves as Senior Special Advisor for “United States Stakeholder Strategy,” a post she was hired to in February this year.
What makes the arrangement unusual is as an American citizen, Johnson is forbidden from Top Secret security clearance. As Carney’s top deputy, it is unclear what access Johnson receives to classified or secure materials.
There was also no official announcement of the hire on the Prime Minister’s official website.
Johnson’s professional history is lined with connections to Democrats. In 2016, she was listed as Director of Scheduling for the failed Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. In 2020, she worked for Michael Bloomberg’s now-defunct Hawkfish political consulting firm and provided “strategic consulting” services to the Biden campaign from August-December 2020.
She later took a position with Bloomberg LP, but it is unclear if she worked for the Biden-Harris campaign in 2024. FEC records do not show expenditures connected to her. She did, though, contribute to the campaign via ActBlue.
Johnson’s ties to Bloomberg serve as the throughway to Carney — and the web of Democrats who enjoy access to the Prime Minister.
As U.N. Special Enjoy on Climate Action and Finance, Carney “focused on developing tools, guidance, and products for investors that will combine positive social and environmental outcomes with strong risk-adjusted returns,” according to a biography from the World Bank. Carney served in the position beginning in 2019 following stints as Governor of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada.
In his U.N. role, Carney co-chaired the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), and Johnson provided him with research and support. The GFANZ was founded in 2021 with Bloomberg as co-chair. The former New York City mayor now serves as its chairman.
When Johnson joined the Canadian government, her portfolio focused on U.S. stakeholder strategy and Canadian-U.S. relations. Carney and Canada’s Liberal Party has hosted a number of establishment Democrats.
Alex Soros has made visits to Canada twice just this year, while former President Barack Obama gave a speech at the Canada 2020 gala in Toronto, showing Carney’s success bringing them to Canada to strategize against President Trump.
Another connection between Washington Democrats and Carney is Gerald Butts, the former political adviser and strategist to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He is well-known in Canada as the architect of Liberals’ climate and net-zero policies, making him a natural ally of Carney.
Butts presently works with Prime Minister Carney’s wife, Diana Fox Carney, at Eurasia Group, where they both hold titles of senior advisor. According to public records, Eurasia Group received multiple consulting contracts from the Canadian government between 2011 and 2024.
Carney and Butts also hold significant ties to John Podesta, the longtime Democrat powerbroker dating back to the Clinton administration where he served as White House Chief of Staff. Podesta chaired the Hillary campaign in 2016 and would later serve in multiple climate-related roles in the Biden administration.
Hillary Clinton was a featured speaker at a Canada 2020 conference in 2014, an event that also served as a fundraiser for the Liberal Party of Canada. In 2017, another Canada 2020 conference reportedly doubled as a fundraiser for Trudeau and featured Obama.
Matt Taube, a former speechwriter for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told the New York Post in 2025, “Podesta and Butts clearly know each other, but Carney’s campaign has been very careful not to tie him to anyone too specifically.”
Podesta reportedly helped facilitate a private meeting involving Carney, Obama, and Soros at the former president’s May 2026 speech in Toronto. This was followed several weeks later by another private gathering in Nova Scotia. That meeting included federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly; Soros and his wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime Hillary Clinton loyalist; and Frank McKenna, who currently serves as deputy chair of TD Bank Group and chair of Brookfield Asset Management.
These intertwined relationships factor heavily into the current status of Canadian-U.S. relations.
On July 1, Trade Representative Jameson Greer issued formal notice that the U.S. did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form. That kicked off a review period for each of the countries involved to address the Agreement’s shortcomings.
After a month of talks failed to result in a deal, Carney says his country is now “at war” with the U.S. after suspending negotiations with Greer.
“We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked,” he said in a report from Breitbart News. In Greer’s account of the negotiations, it was the Canadians who scuttled the deal with “new demands and walk backs of other commitments” in the final hours.
President Trump on Monday announced a 50 percent tariff on all trucks, cars, and steel from Canada in response to Canadian duties on American agricultural products.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote:
“Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years. Their ridiculously high tariffs on our Farmers and farm products has made life impossible for these great American Patriots, and has long created a 60 Billion Dollar Deficit between our two Countries,” he wrote, adding that this is “Not sustainable, and NOT ANYMORE!”
“They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US! They do 95 percent of their business with the U.S., with us, the exact opposite!” he added.
The Canadian government’s intransigence has major implications for the November midterms. At minimum, the Prime Minister’s office must be more forthcoming with Johnson’s role and what meetings Carney is taking with Democrats in attempts to weaken President Trump’s negotiating power, in effect subverting the federal government.
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