COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – Beyond absurdity and the new order

Much has been made over Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech from last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Many have praised it as a strong debut on the world stage and a welcome tone of supranational awareness.

But not everyone was pleased with the PM, including our closest ally and most important trading partner. President Donald Trump, at his turn in front of the podium, said that Mark Carney said some things that weren’t very nice. The president then withdrew his invitation for Canada to participate on the Board of Peace that will work to resolve global conflict and then he threatened a 100 percent tariff on Canadian goods if the deal with China proceeds. Late Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated PM Carney withdrew what he said in his Davos speech. Bessent speaks about the call between Carney and Trump on Monday, “I was in the Oval (Office) with the president today. He spoke to Prime Minister Carney, who was very aggressively walking back some of the unfortunate remarks he made at Davos,” Mr. Carney denies Bessent’s claims, and the story continues to develop.

But truth be told, after a decade of Liberal government, we know that grand speeches whether reversed or not, cannot compensate for years of bad policy. We were promised a better deal. Mr. Carney portrayed himself as the “master negotiator”. He was the one who could “handle” and negotiate a “win”. Still, we wait.

While the prime minister’s remarks in Davos were well delivered and persuasive, they were also deeply paradoxical. Mr. Carney invoked Czech dissident Václav Havel’s well-known essay The Power of the Powerless to illustrate how communist systems sustained themselves. In Havel’s example, a greengrocer displays a sign in his shop window reading, “Workers of the world, unite!” No one believes the slogan—not even the shopkeeper—but it remains posted to avoid trouble and to signal compliance. The system’s strength, Havel argued, did not rest on belief, but on the routine participation of ordinary people in rituals they knew to be false.

The parallel was drawn to multilateral institutions. Carney’s illustrative point was that compliance and allegiance are increasingly being questioned.

Yet here lies the contradiction; Canada’s own Liberal government has played a role in weakening the very systems that once ensured our security, prosperity, and food supply.

When explaining why Canada “matters” in a fractured world, Mr. Carney pointed to our energy resources, critical minerals, human capital, fiscal capacity, democratic institutions, and pension systems. He asserted confidently that Canadian society works and that our public square is “loud, diverse, and free.”

We all want that to be true. Sadly, the last decade has reduced the optimization of natural advantages. Since Mark Carney became prime minister, food inflation has doubled to the highest in the G7. The consequences of the past decade are visible. Poor policy has contributed to rising crime, inflation, higher food prices, capital flight, declining home ownership, strained immigration systems, stagnant wages, and increased taxes. Statistics Canada has now confirmed what Conservatives have long warned: Canadian farmers are losing their global competitiveness, agriculture is becoming economically unviable, and food security is increasingly at risk.

Canadians are right to question the rosy picture painted in Davos—it does not align with the lived reality at home.

Even freedoms historically and proudly protected are at risk. As with C-9 proposing to stop the public reading of sacred texts, and Bill C-15 proposing cabinet ministers be given the authority to exempt any individuals, businesses or organizations from almost any federal law or regulation. How is that true to the fabric of being Canadian? As former Conservative Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker famously claimed, “I am Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”

That is our heritage!

Ironically, Carney is asking us to hang a sign saying everything is fine, ignoring the last decade of bad Liberal policies, underdeveloped natural resources, an under-resourced military and trade barriers.

Conservatives have a better path forward.

Canada must reclaim our strengths neglected under Liberal leadership. Blaming external systems and the U.S. president won’t restore our prosperity. That’s why our fiscal discipline matters. Shovels must be in the ground, critical minerals need to be developed, defence needs to be strengthened, immigration needs to be sustainable, and Canadians deserve hope, not rhetoric.

Mr. Carney, eloquent speeches may acknowledge the vulnerabilities Canada now faces, but speeches, announcements, and symbolic gestures are not enough.

That’s why Canada’s Conservatives will continue to fight for Canadian policies that restore strength, sovereignty, and hope!