Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, takes part in a question and answer session with Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
As an illustration of Canada’s relative irrelevance on the world stage, I always liked the story about external affairs minister Lester Pearson’s visit to president Dwight Eisenhower, an avid golfer.
Pearson emerged from a meeting in disbelief that Ike hadn’t even heard of a pressing Canadian issue. “You’d think,” he muttered to an aide, “his caddie would have mentioned it to him.”
There have been moments when Canada popped up for a day or two on American news, but by and large we’ve been a marginal force. That changed with Mark Carney’s speech in Davos.
Read and watch Mark Carney's Davos speech at the World Economic Forum
Suddenly Canada the bit player is a major player. Suddenly the country repeatedly belittled by Donald Trump is emerging as a threat to him.
The Prime Minister is now seen as leading the resistance among middle powers of the world to American subjugation. He has articulated better than any other world leader why Mr. Trump’s abandonment of post-war multilateralism needs be countered.
The Carney speech is being celebrated in the American media, receiving more positive coverage than possibly any speech by a Canadian leader. That may sound like an exaggeration, but going back to 1867, I can’t find any rival to it.
Mark Carney denies walking back Davos speech in call with Trump
The New York Times’s Ezra Klein described the speech as hugely important, saying that it has stirred “an international relations earthquake.” David French, one of no fewer than five New York Times columnists to opine on the speech, wrote that it “might be the most important address of Trump’s second term so far.”
It spelled out a vision for middle powers to find independence, to not let economic integration become a source of submission, to break free from the hegemony, as Mr. Carney called it, that Mr. Trump is trying to impose.
The speech trenchantly drove home the point, as Mr. French put it, that the U.S. has “broken faith with our allies.” It’s another strong argument against Trumpism, and given the enormous attention the address is getting, the Democrats will be likely to use it in the coming midterm elections.
Mark Carney’s survival plan: Canada and other ‘middle powers’ must co-operate in order to thrive
Normally European countries have taken the lead among advanced democracies in countering American foreign policy. But no European leader did it effectively this time, and Mr. Carney, with his credibility in the global financial system, stepped into the void.
His Davos appearance followed his rapprochement with China, which also serves to increase Ottawa’s imprint on the world stage, and which also irked Mr. Trump.
But while heightening Canada’s stature, it’s far from certain that Mr. Carney’s moves will lead to desirable outcomes for his country. They could very easily backfire.
With the USMCA about to be renegotiated, the speech has put Canada in bad odour with the White House at a bad time. It damaged Mr. Carney’s relationship with the President. It will make it harder to get a good renegotiated deal, if a deal at all.
In his address Mr. Carney talked about the rupture in the global order, caused principally by Mr. Trump’s authoritarian turn, as if it was permanent. “We know the old order is not coming back,” he said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a speech at the World Economic Forum that blamed U.S. President Donald Trump, without naming him, for what Carney described as a rupture in global relations.
But a turning back could start with a decision by the Supreme Court rejecting Mr. Trump’s right to use tariffs as a truncheon against allies to extort concessions. A turning back could come with Democrats winning majorities in both houses of Congress in the midterm elections or with a Democrat victory in the general election in 2028.
Given the variables, it might have been prudent for Mr. Carney, with trade negotiations around the corner, to hold his fire.
Canadians are giving him high personal approval ratings for the way he is facing up to the challenges. The diversification of trade markets, the better military preparedness and other moves he has taken in response to the American convulsions are seen as necessary regardless of how things play out south of the border. They will make Canada better prepared to face any eventuality.
Only a year ago Mark Carney was without a seat in parliament, and the Liberals looked down and out. He became Leader of the party, then Prime Minister, and now, he has become a global leader. It’s an amazing ascendancy, unmatched in the nation’s political history. But there’s no telling what happens next.
If he makes progress with allies in warding off subjugation by the authoritarian President and his MAGA sycophants, it is he who should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. What a comeuppance that would be for the narcissistic thug who so desperately craves that award.