Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Monday that business executive Mark Wiseman will serve as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. — a figure with cross-border bona fides but a controversial pick, nonetheless, due to some of his past comments about Quebec.
Wiseman, a longtime friend of the prime minister who has held senior roles at some of the country’s largest pension funds, takes over for the departing Kirsten Hillman on Feb. 15, 2026.
Wiseman is headed to Washington at a pivotal time. In the months since U.S. President Donald Trump launched his trade war on Canada, the relationship has been badly frayed — and there could be more tension on the horizon when the two sides hash out a resolution in the new year.
“Mark Wiseman brings immense experience, contacts, and deep commitment at this crucial time of transformation of our relationship with the United States. As a core member of our negotiating team, he will help advance the interests of Canadian workers, businesses, and institutions, while building opportunities for both Canada and the United States,” Carney said in a statement.
Wiseman will be tasked with helping lead the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review talks, which are expected to get underway in January.
As part of those discussions, Wiseman will try to help broker some relief from the punishing tariffs Trump has imposed on goods coming from some key Canadian sectors, like steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.
Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, has already laid out what he expects to see from Canada to successfully negotiate an extension of that pact, including changes to supply management as well as laws that protect Canadian culture, which U.S. tech giants have strenuously opposed. He also wants to see a dismantling of provincial bans on U.S. liquor brands.
Greer told Congress that CUSMA has been “successful to a certain degree” but that amendments are needed before Trump agrees to extend it for another 16 years or revert to yearly reviews, something Canada is eager to avoid given the resulting annual uncertainty.
Wiseman, born in the border town of Niagara Falls, Ont., is no stranger to these irritants.
Among Carney’s first decisions after being sworn in earlier this year was naming Wiseman to the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, a body first created by former prime minister Justin Trudeau just as Trump was about to be sworn in as president for the second time.
Experience in ‘all different sectors’
In an interview with CBC News, David Paterson, Ontario’s representative to the U.S., welcomed Wiseman’s appointment, saying his business acumen will be useful in the months to come as the CUSMA renewal talks intensify.
“I think we’re in a six-month sprint right now to July 1 to try and solve as many of those issues, largely sectoral issues, as we can by that date so that we can see this deal move forward,” Paterson said, referring to Greer’s list of conditions that must be met before renewing CUSMA.
“Wiseman’s understanding of investment as a financial person, he’s got experience looking into all different sectors. I think that’ll be a help,” he said.
The incoming ambassador’s close relationship with the prime minister is also a plus, Paterson said, as it means Wiseman can speak with some authority.
“It’s so encouraging and important that the prime minister has developed a good rapport with the president — that’s particularly important here. So having somebody that is in close, regular conversation with the prime minister in this role is going to be absolutely essential.”
While Ontario has its own concerns about the state of the trade negotiations — the province wants Ottawa to be more focused on averting U.S. efforts to torpedo the auto sector — Paterson said he’s confident the Carney-Wiseman duo are well-placed to land a deal when the time comes.
“We’ll be there 100 per cent behind the new ambassador to make sure that he’s successful,” he said.
Concerns in Quebec
While Wiseman may have Ontario’s support, at least one province has raised red flags about the appointment.
Wiseman’s past public musings on supply management make him a controversial pick in some circles, notably in Quebec where there is a contingent of politically active dairy farmers determined to keep that regime in place.
Wiseman previously said supply management, which protects the domestic dairy industry from some imports and guarantees farmers a minimum price for their products, benefits a “group of settled players,” impedes innovation and keeps “prices artificially high for Canadian consumers.”
Those comments have prompted concern that Wiseman will be a half-hearted defender of supply management when Trump and his team put it on the table for negotiation.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, appearing alongside Premier Doug Ford Thursday at an event outlining steps to align approaches around major projects, took questions on their response to recent demands put forth by the U.S. trade representative around access to Canada’s dairy market and how provinces are handling the sale of U.S. alcohol.
Speaking to reporters earlier this month amid reports Wiseman could get the U.S. job, Pascal Paradis, a Parti Québécois member of Quebec’s National Assembly, said his nomination would be “unacceptable” for Quebec.
“The Parti Québécois will never accept the nomination of Mark Wiseman as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. Why? Because Mark Wiseman is not a friend of the Quebec nation,” Paradis said at a news conference in Quebec City.
Carney has been adamant that supply management is safe on his watch.
“We’ve been clear about our approach to supply management. We continue to stand by that. We will continue to protect supply management,” the prime minister said at a news conference last week after Greer’s conditions for the CUSMA review were released.
Wiseman also serves as chairman of the Century Initiative, a non-profit that calls for more immigration to boost Canada’s economy. Two years ago, he posted an article with an eyebrow-raising headline on social media — “100 million Canadians by 2100 may not be federal policy, but it should be – even if it makes Quebec howl,” is how that Globe and Mail column read and what he reposted on X.
That prompted Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to say Wiseman is “someone who has shown contempt for Quebec and who cannot negotiate on behalf of Quebec.”
Bloc Québécois House leader Christine Normandin also took issue with the use of the word “howl,” which she said is something dogs do.
But Wiseman’s job will have very little, if anything, to do with immigration levels. His attention will be focused on securing a successful CUSMA review with unpredictable Trump.
Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, a Conservative, said that’s what Wiseman is well-suited to do.
The two worked together when Wiseman was the head of Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), a Crown corporation that invests tens of billions of dollars worth of funds generated from the province’s oil resources and public pension plans.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced business executive Mark Wiseman will serve as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., taking over for Kirsten Hillman on Feb. 15.
“Mark is one of Canada’s top private sector finance experts who is an effective dealmaker. He’s the kind of guy who could get down to brass tacks and defend our interests effectively in dealing with the Trump administration,” Kenney said, prior to Wiseman’s appointment being confirmed.
Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said the trust Carney and Wiseman have developed over years of friendship will be useful during what is expected to be tense negotiations during the Trump administration.
While Hillman was widely respected, she was a Trudeau appointee, and Wiseman said Carney is entitled to his own hand-picked ambassador.
Plus, the wealthy Wiseman is a good fit for the administration he’s poised to deal with, Shimooka said.
Looking at Trump’s cabinet, “there’s a large number of people in there who are in the economic upper crust,” he said. “Wiseman has the ability to go to these people and speak their language.”
Either way, Wiseman’s negotiation skills — and patience — will be put to the test with the sometimes erratic Trump, Shimooka said.
“This is not going to be easy. You can have an agreement on policy one day and the next day, it’s gone.”
