The Daily Populous Saturday April 12nd, 2025 day edition
Authored by theglobeandmail.com and submitted by AdmiralSaturyn

Open this photo in gallery: Liberal Leader Mark Carney gestures next to Maninder Sidhu, a parliamentary candidate from Brampton East in Brampton, Ont., on April 10.Carlos Osorio/Reuters

Omer Aziz is an author, lawyer, and a former foreign policy adviser in the government of Justin Trudeau.

The world is facing a moment of significant upheaval. The United States threatens to derail the global economy. Great powers like China and Russia are making aggressive moves in the Arctic and in Asia. War engulfs Europe and the Middle East. The crisis in the international system is unlike anything Canada has seen since the Second World War.

Enter Mark Carney into the political sphere. Mr. Carney brings a unique perspective as a former central banker who managed major economic crises. Now he is making a robust argument for a new and principled kind of Canadian leadership on the world stage, one where Canada wins the major competitions of the 21st century and leads the world.

Mr. Carney speaks of building “new trade corridors and reliable partners” – countries that will be there for Canada. He seeks to rearchitect Canada’s alliances to make them more resilient and for regular Canadians to benefit from the gains of trade. Mr. Carney has taken a strong stance against the United States and stood up for Canada’s sovereignty. He has made Canada’s Arctic a major priority, recognizing that the Arctic is the axis upon which three great powers compete. He has warned of China’s race to dominate advanced technologies and AI. Mr. Carney is not seeking to preserve the remnants of the former order; he is arguing that we must build something better in its place.

Central to Mr. Carney’s vision is the idea of security. People should feel economically and personally secure in their lives. That means building up economic resilience and reforming the international order so that it benefits Canadians. It means building millions of homes, increasing military spending, and giving individuals and businesses the tools they need to maximize wealth creation. Mr. Carney is banking on Canada’s success in clean and conventional energy, in getting our goods and services to markets around the world, and in being at all the critical tables in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where the future is being written. For Mr. Carney, the vision of Canadian strength begins with national renewal, investing in domestic sources of power, and serving as a global leader that other nations can get behind. This is a serious vision rooted in moral pragmatism, as well as a call to arms.

If one zooms out, the global chessboard has shifted. There is now a multi-layered competition across multiple vectors of power. At one level is the great geopolitical race for resources and navigational corridors. At the next are the economic and industrial revolutions in technology and AI. Finally, there is a moral and legal race to define the global rules of the road on the climate, on inclusive economic growth, and on major security issues. These rules are still being written. Canada must compete effectively across all these vectors, or risk being left behind.

When this country’s prime ministers have been pro-active, they have improved the lives of future generations – and not just in Canada. Lester B. Pearson brought peace to the Suez. Pierre Trudeau led efforts at denuclearization. Under Jean Chrétien, Canada led the world in banning anti-personnel landmines. Paul Martin helped invent the G20 and Justin Trudeau led global efforts to fight climate change. This country has a rare convening power – the world still looks to Canada – and Canada should be a leader in defining the terms of debate for such major issues.

For instance, one could easily imagine Mr. Carney building coalitions of like-minded partners on the global rules of AI. Will AI be a tool to be misused by authoritarian regimes? Or will we build a rules-based architecture around AI that Canada will lead? Whether on AI, energy, or human rights, there is a vacuum emerging as America retreats from its obligations. This presents critical opportunities for Canada.

Values are a defining feature of this new vision. For Mr. Carney, values are not signals or slogans to be repeated when convenient, but deeply rooted moral and ethical foundations for governance. “Markets don’t have values,” he argued in the Reith Lectures. “They need to be underpinned by values.” Mr. Carney’s chief argument is that when systems – whether markets or the international order – are left to their own devices, they can wreak havoc. He speaks of solidarity, responsibility, fairness and resilience as core Canadian values. By extension, the international order should reflect Canada’s values. When leadership led by values is absent, the international order can crash – as it did in the 1930s. A similar crash may occur if countries like ours retreat into isolationism.

Under the Carney Doctrine, Canada cannot be a purely amoral actor, befriending autocratic regimes. Nor can its foreign policy be so suffused with moral righteousness that it obscures core national interests. Rather, Canada’s foreign policy should deftly advance the country’s vital interests, make Canadians secure, rebuild domestic strength, win the great competitions of this era, and be guided by its values. It is an ambitious idea, calling upon Canadians to lead the world at a time of crisis – to demonstrate that this is our finest hour. But Canada has done great things in the past, and can do so again.

Ours is a post-1945 moment, except the major battles still lie ahead. Mr. Carney is governing in wartime and understands that peace emerges through strength, and that a middle power like Canada can shape the international order or have that work done by its adversaries. It is our choice to walk away or take up leadership of the international system.

Mr. Carney is betting that Canadians will want to do big things in this era, and that we should have the economic strength to do so. It’s a story that Canada needs to hear.

BROWN-MUNDA_ on April 12nd, 2025 at 02:31 UTC »

I'm being honest canada can't do anything without USA support. Nothing means nothing. Especially when power dinamic shifting to indo pacific

petepro on April 12nd, 2025 at 02:05 UTC »

They don't even pretend whom they're gonna support in the upcoming election.

fpPolar on April 12nd, 2025 at 01:41 UTC »

This is wishful thinking. How is Canada going to get other countries to do what Canada wants?

That is what these fluff pieces can never answer.