Mark Carney appears to mock Trump after teleprompter malfunctions during press conference

TORONTO, CANADA: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney turned an unexpected technical glitch into a memorable political moment on Wednesday, August 5, after his teleprompter stopped working during a housing announcement in Toronto.

Rather than letting the interruption derail his speech, Carney addressed the audience with a smile and delivered a lighthearted remark that many interpreted as a swipe at President Donald Trump.

Mark Carney jokes after teleprompter stops working

As the speech came to a halt because of the technical issue, Carney calmly acknowledged what had happened.

"I would like to inform you that the teleprompter has ceased to function," he told the audience.

He then followed it up with a pointed joke. "Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy."

The crowd immediately laughed at the remark. Although Carney never mentioned Trump by name, the comment appeared to reference the US president's past reaction to a teleprompter malfunction during a speech at the United Nations.

The Toronto event was held alongside Mayor Olivia Chow and focused on housing policy. Even after the brief interruption, Carney continued with his address before later taking questions from reporters.

Donald Trump's teleprompter claims resurface

Carney's joke echoed an incident from last September when Trump's teleprompter stopped working during his address to the United Nations General Assembly.

After the speech, Trump claimed he had been sabotaged and pointed to three separate issues during the visit. He said an escalator carrying him and First Lady Melania Trump had suddenly stopped, the teleprompter failed, and the sound system also malfunctioned.

At the time, Trump warned that whoever was responsible for operating the teleprompter was “in big trouble”. He continued reading from printed notes until the equipment began working again.

Later, he described the series of incidents as “triple sabotage” in a Truth Social post, demanded an investigation and said those responsible should be arrested.

However, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary general, later explained that the escalator may have stopped after a videographer from the US delegation, who was walking backward ahead of Trump and Melania Trump, accidentally triggered a safety mechanism.

Housing announcement also touched on tariffs

The Toronto appearance was primarily intended to highlight housing initiatives, but Carney also answered questions about the upcoming 50% US tariff on a range of Canadian goods, which is scheduled to take effect on August 19.

He said he remains very involved in the negotiations surrounding the trade issue. Later the same day, Trump spoke in Las Vegas about tax cuts ahead of the November midterm elections.

During his remarks, he discussed tariffs imposed by several countries, including Canada. “I love the people, but they're nasty”, Trump said while speaking about Canada.

There was no indication that Trump had heard or responded to Carney's joke.

Not the first time Carney teased the joke

Interestingly, Wednesday wasn't the first time Carney hinted at making the remark.

At a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade event in May, he experienced another teleprompter interruption and briefly started to reference a conspiracy joke before stopping himself.

"Happens, it happens," he said with a laugh. "I'm not going to go into the - I'm not going to say who I - you know what, there's a teleprompter joke I could tell about a conspiracy theory, but I think I, it's probably not…."