https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-speech-davos-rules-based-order-9.7053350
Some quotes:
We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.
Let me be direct: We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.
Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration.
But more recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons. Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.
You cannot “live within the lie” of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.
A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself.
But let’s be clear-eyed about where this leads. A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable.
Just posted this on Bluesky because I just watched it too.
The standing ovation, rare for Davos (and for whatever it’s worth), recognizes two things:
Canada’s proximity to the hegemon mentioned.
Carney’s stature in the world of finance.
That’s it. The content, the message tilted toward an activist approach, in my opinion. It is consistent with the calculations and moves made so far. But, it is not revolutionary or beyond the scope of the established political moment.
There is merit in developing the “networks” he mentioned. There is truth in the act of “taking the signs down”. None of it is new. -2 burned the US sign on the White House lawn exactly nine years ago.
Courting China is basic math at this point. Canada’s resources — fossil fuels, rare earth metals, water, the Arctic Ocean — go a long way in that conversation. Too bad it’ll cost Canada’s reputation for environmentalism, attempts at reconciliation, and other human rights championeering. It is a Brave New World, though much like the old world, now with AI.
As long as we are playing a zero-sum game — enforced by military-industrial actors, a capitalist-loving system, and fractious bets on future value — winners, offensively, seek power by force; and losers organize defense against attacks. The rhetoric is the opposite: winners play victim; losers stage victories. What a circus!
Ironically, I think weakening some of those reputational things you mention will also weaken Canada’s right wing by taking the wind out of many of their grievances. Our conservative parties are already Frankenstein coalitions of moderate right-wingers and the more extreme far-right, hopefully this will crack the sutures.