Ottawa's Liberal caucus room turned into an impromptu comedy stage this week, courtesy of Prime Minister Mark Carney.
During a caucus speech, Carney had MPs laughing after appearing to mimic U.S. President Donald Trump's well-known "accordion hands" gesture, the squeezing, expanding hand motion Trump often uses to emphasize the size or scale of something. The moment was captured on video and shared by Instagram account @613trending, which posted the clip with the caption noting Carney "had the room laughing" with the impression.
According to the post, Carney broke out the gesture while describing a major Canadian clean-energy project, comparing its scale to "the equivalent of 18 Hoover Dams." As he repeated the line, he leaned into the Trump-style hand motions, drawing chuckles from the room.
An Ottawa Moment With National Reach
While the substance of Carney's remarks centred on clean energy infrastructure, a file with real implications for communities across the country, it was the delivery that caught people's attention online. Caucus speeches happen behind closed doors on Parliament Hill, right here in Ottawa, so clips like this one offer a rare, candid glimpse of the tone MPs get from their leader when the cameras aren't officially rolling.
Moments like this tend to travel fast precisely because they're unscripted. A prime minister poking fun at a foreign head of state's mannerisms, even in a light-hearted way, is the kind of clip that gets replayed and picked apart by political watchers looking for signals about the state of the Canada-U.S. relationship.
Why It's Getting Attention
Carney and Trump have had a closely watched dynamic since Carney took office, with trade, tariffs and cross-border relations frequently in the headlines. A moment of levity like this, especially one built around a physical impression of the U.S. president, offers a small but telling window into how Carney handles that relationship in front of his own caucus.
No further details about the specific clean-energy project referenced in the speech were included in the clip, and ottown has not independently verified the project's details beyond what was shown.
For now, the clip is making the rounds as a bit of levity from an otherwise policy-heavy caucus session on Parliament Hill.
Story via Instagram: @613trending
