Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, said his country must be a “beacon to a world that’s at sea” and that national unity was critical as his government faces a dramatic reshaping of the world political order – and mounting domestic challenges
The national address, given at a historic military fortress in Quebec City, was far narrower in scope than the prime minister’s remarks earlier in the week at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland. Dubbed the ‘Carney Doctrine’, the Davos speech lamented the disintegration of rules-based order amid a rise of “great powers” that used economic “coercion” as a weapon.
But his Thursday speech on the grounds of a famed citadel, built to fend off a potential American invasion, nonetheless laid out a defence of Canadian values and his vision for where the country fit into a rapidly changing world.
“Canada cannot solve all the world’s problems, but we can show that another way is possible: that the arc of history isn’t destined to be warped towards authoritarianism and exclusion, it can still bend towards progress and justice,” he said.
Carney’s remarks, largely written by the prime minister himself, included a jab at US president Donald Trump, who suggested earlier in the week Canada was insufficiently “grateful” for the state of its economy, which he said was the result of American generosity.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump told attenders in Davos. “Remember that, Mark, next time you make your statements.”
Carney said the two countries “have built a remarkable partnership” through their integrated economies, security agreements and shared values. But he also added: “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian. We are masters of our home. This is our country.”
Despite international approval for his blunt assessment of the “rupture” in the geopolitical order, Carney has faced pushback from opposition Conservatives, who say the prime minister’s recent trade missions to China and Qatar have produced little concrete investment and distracted him from domestic challenges.
Carney pledged to move “fairly and fast” to speed up major infrastructure projects and to tackle the sustained cost-of-living crisis plaguing the country. But he also faces the prospect of two sovereignty referendums in Alberta and Quebec.
“When we are united, unity grows. When we are Canadian – inclusive, fair, ambitious – Canada grows,” he said.
The prime minister did acknowledge the country’s history was defined by a move “slowly, imperfectly, not without struggle” towards cooperation and partnership of the disparate groups that called it home. Canada has not always lived up to its stated ideals, he said, including the sustained “dispossession” of Indigenous peoples and the “violation” of treaties – a reality that persists into the present.
After giving his speech, Carney met- and hugged – the giant novelty snowman Bonhomme, who serves as the ambassador of the city’s winter carnival.
Carney is in Quebec to meet with cabinet and attend briefings before parliament returns on Monday. His governing Liberals are one seat short of a majority.
