The Carney Effect

Canada steps into leadership shoes

We have a new Prime Minister in Canada.

We have chosen the path of enlightened global engagement, as a nation, and the significance of that that, in the current era of intensifying identity politics, should not be underestimated.

We have defeated, for now, the hateful, bigoted, self-interested isolationism of the extreme right wing, and opted instead for a higher standard of social collective interest domestically, while internationally, we are now led by a globally respected and competent statesman.

The fact that Progressive Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat in his riding is perhaps emphasis on the point that in Canada, the electorate in favour of Liberal values still outnumber those opposed. Though the fact that the PC party still garnered a significant portion of the vote signals that right wing extremism continues to infect many segments of the population.

And so it comes to pass that we have Mark Carney’s liberal government leading Canada through its largest trading partner’s psychotic break from reality and normalcy. We can breathe a collective sigh of relief and prepare to witness Carney’s destiny fulfilled as the avatar for world (true) freedom and principles of human decency.

But rest on our laurels we must not, as Yoda might caution. The Dark Sith is still at large, and with the like of Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and the rest of the over-monied, under-loved junior would-be Rulers of the World throwing their cash around with little regard for national laws against election tampering, now we must be vigilant.

I would argue that among the first additions to the Canadian legal apparatus is some kind of Office for the Surveillance of Capital Inflows to political and media agencies who are being incentivized to amplify and repeat the talking points of the Heritage Foundation and the Project 2025 christian nationalist fanatics, or the overzealous thinly-veiled white supremacist agenda of Stephen Miller and his far right closeted KKK billionaires.

Alberta remains outside of the collective Canadian approach, and has long since been a reliable outpost of deteriorating American exceptionalism since the exploitation of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin - source of Canada’s now largely depleted light sweet crude wealth - became an American enterprise from the 1950’s onward.

The only direct flight to Houston, Texas was for many years out of Calgary back in the 2000’s, which is all the evidence you needed to ascertain the extent to which Canadian petroleum resources were funded (owned) by US-based interests.

Most Albertans fail to recognize that the reason their oil sands product needs to be piped to Cushing instead of being refined into higher value petroleum distillates in Canada was because the same US investors who financed the WCSB ramp-up in the last century withheld investment in Canadian refining in Canada because this way they could double the revenue from Canadian crude products by selling pipeline capacity to Canada and then selling back finished petroleum products.

In fact, almost 70 percent of the investment capital to Alberta oilfields since 1950 was US originated.

Is it any wonder that Alberta is the center of support for the “51st state” concept being touted by Trump?

Carney’s book - Value(s) - mentions the word “moral” or any of its derivatives nearly 100 times; not something you’d expect from a treatise on economic and national policy. His plain and direct engagement with Trump’s tariff agenda demonstrates his superior grasp of economics, and so now the fun begins, as the developed world will be focused on how Carney defends Canada’s economy from the treachery of Trump, even while in our own energy producing back yard, there are voters who would willingly sell out the country without hesitation.

It is an extraordinary historical inflection point in the geopolitical order we are crossing.

The United States is accelerating its self-destruction economically and politically, while Canada now gets to flex its substantial political muscle, thanks to our new Prime Minister.

In the next four years, expect to see the ascendancy of Canada into the role of Leader of the Free World.

There is no better candidate on Earth for the job. By now, we are well inculcated with Carney’s stellar resume and track record of performance and execution.

He seems to have put Donald Trump in a defensive posture, which bodes well for the post-election negotiation that Carney has said will happen if he wins.

Pollievre has never written a book.

But somebody wrote one on his behalf. Its called Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life, and was written by Andrew Lawton,