CBC’s Kate McKenna, who broke a story about Liberal operatives planting Trump-style buttons at a conservative conference last week, is covering Carney on the campaign trail this week.

She asked Carney how much the incident undermines trust in the Liberals — given the “anti-democratic” connotations of one of the pins, which bore the slogan “stop the steal,” a reference to Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results — and what he’s done in response to the revelations.

“This is totally unacceptable, to be absolutely clear … I was unaware of this behaviour, but on behalf of my campaign I apologize for it unreservedly,” he said.

Asked later whether the Liberals have fired the staffers involved, Carney said they’ve been “reassigned” within the campaign.

“This behaviour or anything approximating it in that spirit is unacceptable, cannot happen, cannot happen again,” he said.