Neil Young performs during a Fighting Oligarchy rally in Los Angeles, Calif. on April 12 where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke to an estimated crowd of 36,000 people in attendance.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Neil Young has endorsed Mark Carney to fight what the veteran rocker describes as a threat to Canada’s “very existence” from the United States.
The 79-year-old musician, who has dual Canadian-American citizenship, announced his pick for prime minister in an open letter to the Liberal Leader on his news site, NYA Times-Contrarian.
“They want our resources, they want our land, they want our fisheries, they want our water, they want our Arctic, maybe they want our souls,” he wrote. “I know the U.S. President could use a soul. It takes more than bravado to fight this kind of a threat.”
The Canadian federal election will be held on April 28. Since becoming President for the second time, Donald Trump has launched a trade war with Canada and said the country would be “much better off” as the 51st state.
Though he sang “I am American, American is what I am” in his 2021 song Canerican, the Toronto-born Young maintains residences in both Canada and the U.S. In the open letter, titled “I’m with you, Mr. Carney,” he used the possessive pronouns “we” and “us” when referring to Canada. Young laid out the qualifications he believed were required of a Canadian leader.
“It takes brains, deep economic knowledge of how the world works, it takes strong, intelligent strategies, and the ability to recognize and seize opportunities both at home and on the world stage, opportunities that can bring a new level of prosperity and safety to people – people who right now may be paralyzed with fear as they look to the future of Canada and the world. Mr. Carney, I believe you are the person to do it.”
The Rockin’ in the Free World protest singer and environmentalist has expressed his political views robustly and often in the past, including attacks on Trump. After he became a U.S. citizen in 2020, Young called him a “disgrace to my country.” Earlier this month on his website, Young expressed concern that he might be barred from re-entering the U.S. after his coming European tour because of his criticism of the U.S. leader.
“When I go to play music in Europe, if I talk about Donald J. Trump, I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminum blanket,” Young wrote. “That is happening all the time now. Countries have new advice for those returning to America.”
In 2014, Young grinningly posed with a prepresident Trump, who called Young “one of my favorite musicians.” But in an interview with the BBC this week, Young’s wife said Trump’s first administration impeded her husband’s efforts to secure American citizenship.
“They tried every trick in the book to mess him up, and made him keep coming back to be reinterviewed and reinterviewed,” actress Daryl Hannah said. “It’s ridiculous. He’s been living in America and paying taxes here since he was in his 20s.”
Young has previously opined on Canadian politics. Before the 2015 federal election, he called Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party government “backward” and said it had “trashed” the country’s resources.”
After that election was won by the Liberal Party, Young congratulated Justin Trudeau: “I think it’s nice that a positive force is in power in Canada.”
Young closed his open letter to Carney with encouragement and a full-throated endorsement: “It’s a heavy lift for sure, Mr. Carney. But I, for one, am with you all the way.” It was signed, “PEACE, Neil Young.”