Defence minister downplays PM’s comments on prospect of U.S. military action

OTTAWA — A day after Prime Minister Mark Carney told a U.S. media outlet his government has studied the possibility of U.S.-led military action in Canada, Defence Minister David McGuinty says all militaries analyze such risks.

McGuinty is downplaying the significance of comments Carney made to the New York Times on Wednesday indicating Ottawa has examined the possibility of American military action.

Carney told the New York Times he would not to discuss in detail what that examination involved, but suggested it would be irresponsible not to prepare for what he called “extreme tail risk.”

McGuinty says it’s normal for a country to do that but the government would not be going into any detail about what such an analysis entails.