It’s time for something bolder than Carney’s path of appeasement

Prime Minister Carney’s now-famous speech at Davos outlined a vision of Canada charting a path as a “middle power” between increasingly belligerent “great powers” dominating a lawless planet.

But his speech left out something critical.

Just one of these “great powers” is currently waging war on its own population, executing people in the street and disappearing untold numbers of predominantly racialized people into concentration camps.

Just one of these “great powers” has, in the last year, bombed at least seven countries, illegally kidnapped a president, and threatened to topple the governments of multiple others—let alone threatened the sovereignty of both Greenland and Canada.

Just one of these “great powers” has responded to international attempts to hold its ally, Israel, accountable for genocide in Palestine by sanctioning judges of the International Criminal Court, sanctioning the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories, and cutting funding for the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees.

Just one of these “great powers” maintains nearly 800 military bases worldwide, a trillion-dollar annual military budget, and a nuclear arsenal large enough to destroy life on Earth multiple times over.

Just one of these “great powers” has been identified as being in the “early stages of genocide against trans” people.

And just one of these “great powers” is ruled by a coalition openly and proudly committed to an ideology of racial supremacy, which regularly signals—from Elon Musk’s sieg heil salute to the Department of Labor’s recent “Homeland” slogan—to Nazism and old-fashioned American white supremacy.

Crucially, for Canada, just that one “great power” is also the destination for over a trillion dollars of annual Canadian foreign direct investment; a close military partner that Canada collaborates with, including in the 2024 bombing of Yemen and in Gaza, overseeing the so-called “ceasefire;” and a recipient of permit-free Canadian military exports—perhaps explaining why armoured vehicles from Brampton, Ontario were recently roaming the streets of Minneapolis.

I am an American immigrant to Canada.

I haven’t crossed the border to see family since 2024 out of fear that things I’ve written could be used as justification to detain me—or worse. But I am far more fearful for my friends and family, and for the thousands of brave people fighting Trump’s militias in the streets of Minneapolis, Portland, Los Angeles, and across the country.

The US is at a critical juncture.

The Trump administration is testing its limits at home and abroad, attempting to consolidate its rule. The only thing holding it back is people power—people like Alex Pretti and Renee Good, martyred in broad daylight by Trump’s militias.

Carney’s “middle powers,” in this context, can play one of two roles: they can stand with the people of the US (and around the world) who are fighting back, putting themselves at risk to avert a coming catastrophe. Or they can take Carney’s approach: tiptoe around reality, refuse to name it, and maintain business-as-usual relations with the fascist regime on our border.

The latter—Carney’s “middle power” path—is a path of appeasement.

I have no illusions about Canada’s ability to wage war against the US. But Trump’s power is shaky—he “chickens out” every time the stock market hiccups, because he cannot risk alienating the billionaire class that brought him to power. His grip requires both the consent of the powerful and the quiet assent of the masses, at home and abroad.

Canada, despite its vulnerability, can lead the way in international action to end his regime by imposing real restrictions on the US.

This means more than BC Premier David Eby’s infantile ban on “red-state liquor.”

It means disentangling our militaries and ending arms exports. It means refusing to participate in violent American adventurism and standing up for international law—even, or perhaps especially, in Palestine. And it means blocking US investment in Canadian infrastructure, including halting “projects of national interest” like Ksi Lisims LNG, which are owned by Trump-aligned billionaires.

It will not be easy. It will require a whole-of-society mobilization—not just to delink our economy, but to overcome the political power of the Canadian capitalist class, which has hitched its wagon to the American project.

But the alternative—Carney’s “middle power” path—simply kicks the can down the road, risking untold lives with no upside. We owe it to ourselves, to our friends, family, and neighbors across the border, and to the rest of the world to attempt something bolder.

Nick Gottlieb is a climate writer based in northern BC and the author of the newsletter Sacred Headwaters. His work focuses on understanding the power dynamics driving today’s interrelated crises and exploring how they can be overcome. Follow him on X @ngottliebphoto.

[Photo by Gatis Rozenfelds/Flickr]