Canadians should not be celebrating carney. We should be scared.
A closer reading of PM Mark Carney's speech at Davos reveals troubling truths about our country's future.

In January 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. His assertive, confident, and nearly seventeen minute speech at the podium spoke of the “new world order” that must emerge in the face of increasing unpredictability and threats posed by Donald Trump’s second presidency in the U.S.A. In a room full of capitalist economic and political elites, Carney said “we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” hinting at how global superpowers like the U.S.A and Trump’s far-right regime have become increasingly emboldened in using economic and military threats to enforce their America-first agenda. In the speech, Carney said Canadians no longer benefit from the historically mutual relationship our country has had with the U.S.A.; that we must look elsewhere, build relationships with other middle-powers to break our reliance on “American hegemony.” 

At a time when Canada’s territorial and cultural sovereignty have come under attack by Trump’s blatant threats, Carney’s impressive articulation appears hopeful, or at the very least, refreshingly truthful compared to the typical politician-slop speeches. Many world leaders, like democratic presidential candidate Gavin Newsom and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, praised Carney’s honesty and clarity (guys, the bar is in hell) in calling out Trump. NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte put it simply: “Canada is back.”

But what struck me was not what Carney said on the Davos podium or the sublime reactions of world leaders, but the reactions of many liberals and so-called leftists in Canada. Most of the fangirl reactions lauded Carney’s inspiring words and brave stance against the abuse of power; in other words, the speech sounded…nice? I don’t disagree that geopolitics is changing and that we should change with it. But people online are acting like finance-bro Carney is the new Che Guevara, standing up and giving a big, fat middle finger to good old U.S. imperialism and aggression. 

In my opinion, a closer reading of the speech and Carney’s actions here at home consolidates our PM’s position as a center-right politician. And as young Canadians, we must contend with what that means for our shared future. 

Canada: A wolf-in-sheep’s-skin identity 

Many online praised Carney’s condemnation of what was believed to be American imperialism. The speech comes at a time when the Trump administration is actively threatening to annex Greenland (which the speech directly points out) and is weaponizing tariffs as an economic control against regimes not in alignment with U.S. interests. Simply look no further than Trump’s social media AI-slop-fueled mockery of Canadian sovereignty and maps of a “Greater America.”

 On more than one occasion, Trump has called Carney the “Governor of Canada,” a nod to his earlier rhetoric of us being the 51st state. In response to America’s growing unpredictability, Carney believes in a “values-based” world order, one where global middle-powers, including Canada, unite to resist the bullying ensued by America on the world stage (amongst other things). 

But did Carney’s speech condemn U.S. imperialism, or did it simply condemn a version of U.S. imperialism that Canada no longer benefits and takes inspiration from? 

If Carney was genuinely concerned about the rising threats of unfiltered imperialism in foreign policy, he should’ve also mentioned Venezuela—in addition to Greenland. Earlier this year, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped and his government was undermined, as per the Monroe Doctrine, due to the country’s massive oil reserves, which the U.S. took interest in controlling. As expected, Canada failed to condemn how aggression was being used to trigger regime change in the region, and instead, placated us with general comments about a nation’s right to freedom and democracy. 

Speaking of ongoing imperialism, the question of Gaza on Carney’s record so far has been a harrowing revelation of the PM’s hypocrisy. Besides failing to recognize that a genocide is taking place, Carney believes “in principle” in Trump’s “Board of Peace” for Gaza, which is meant to support reconstruction according to American and Zionist interests in the region. In other words, the board makes a complete mockery of Palestinian self-determination and dignity. On top of this, Carney has never directly condemned or materially thwarted Israel’s genocide. 

In the face of all this political backhandedness, one of the reasons people are calling Carney’s speech hopeful and inspiring is because of its use of optics. Carney outlines the clear ways his government hopes to strengthen our economy through “nation-building” projects. “Since my government took office, we have cut taxes on incomes, on capital gains and business investment. We have removed all barriers to interprovincial trade. We are fast-tracking $1 trillion of investments in energy, AI, critical minerals, new trade corridors, and beyond,” said Carney at Davos.

In rhetoric alone, this all sounds well and high-browed, like a politician with a fierce vision for his country’s future. Yet, to attract said investment, our government passed Bill 5, which unashamedly sidelines Indigenous rights, eases environmental protections (many of which were fought for by Indigenous advocacy), and bypasses other regulatory mandates in an effort to fast-track the nation-building projects Carney believes to be the guarantors of Canada’s future.

Canada also relies heavily on American tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Google, and other AI giants for digital services. The very same companies that are increasingly beholden to Trump’s right-wing agenda. Yet, Canada continues to sign agreements with these tech giants, and according to professors Natasha Tusikov and Blayne Haggart, “has allowed the U.S. to invest in two Vancouver companies mining critical minerals.” 

On top of this, Carney hasn’t been shy about his love of AI, with a nearly $1 billion investment into AI over the next five years and the building of several data centers which are hungry for water, land, and power. The Davos speech also mentions energy investments, which is simply finance-bro-code for Carney sucking up to a bunch of oil and gas executives and lobby groups. Nothing new there.

To add fuel to the fire, Carney plans to significantly increase Canada’s defence budget—as per his speech—to reduce dependency on the U.S., a decision that runs parallel to the government’s increasing austerity measures, which sucks money out of the public sector and scapegoats these jobs as the source of overspending. 

Canadians love to cope

To me, Carney’s bold vision for Canada’s future at Davos isn’t something to celebrate. It’s simply concerning, because behind the grandeur of our PM’s words lies a reality of problematic legislation and ideological alignment with liberal capitalism that puts profit over people and optics over real systemic change. 

Carney’s speech isn’t revolutionary because besides failing to condemn U.S. imperialism, it fails to condemn the capitalist logic at the root of Canadians’ suffering. The only thing Carney’s speech condemns is irrational tariff policies Trump seems to be leveraging for his political puppetry. But the real threat of authoritarianism, both south of the border and globally, remains fundamentally unaddressed by our leaders. 

A few months back, I was moderately happy that Carney beat Poilievre and that my vote contributed to a “new start” for Canada. But in all honesty, how can I claim to genuinely exercise my democratic right when our nation doesn’t even have a true leftist opposition to support and vote for? So, partly disillusioned with Trudeau and entirely disgusted with Poilievre, I voted for the next best thing (which isn’t the next best thing at all): Carney’s Liberals. 

I think part of the reason why many fawned over Carney at Davos was because Canadians are still reeling from the high of a certain illusion: the illusion of having beat the right-wing government Poilievre represents. I don’t mean to be a picky leftist when I say this, but Carney’s win did not defeat Poilievre like we believe it did. In fact, I believe that if Carney continues to fail working-class Canadians through more cuts to the public sector or by systemic disinvestment in social welfare, his four-years as our PM might lay the foundations for a future conservative government’s landslide win. 

With Trump’s second term, we see how material realities, like the cost of living crisis, can be exploited to push xenophobic, racist, and anti-immigrant sentiments to eventually vote in a fascist presidency. We can’t have the same formula take place in Canada. And that starts with holding Carney’s government accountable and refusing to accept mediocrity as the ultimate solution to real social change.