Davos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, PM of Canada | Joanna Bryson
“Collective investments in resilience are cheaper than everyone building their own fortresses. Shared standards reduce fragmentations. Complementarities are positive sum.“ Mark Carney beautifully states what has become my principle policy concern since 2025 – leveraging what the EU and others have learnt about transnational trade associations to make something more agile, more resilient to political change and bad actions from members, but much more able to embrace and collaborate with those people world-wide who do manage to represent themselves with governments truly committed to the rule of law, fairness and justice. And as Carney says (and we've long known) that will entail sustainability too.
----
I'm sure many (but maybe not most) leaders are rising to the occasion, but this outstanding speech by Mark Carney is well worth reading. Better to read it all but, to precise:
"Today I will talk about a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality, where geopolitics, where the large, main power, geopolitics, is submitted to no limits, no constraints."
He quotes "Czech dissident Václav Havel, later president"'s essay The Power of the Powerless, then says
"For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability. And because of that, we could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection.
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.
This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.
You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination.
[Canada] aims to be both principled and pragmatic – principled in our commitment to fundamental values, sovereignty, territorial integrity, the prohibition of the use of force, except when consistent with the UN Charter, and respect for human rights, and pragmatic and recognizing that progress is often incremental, that interests diverge, that not every partner will share all of our values.
So, we're engaging broadly, strategically with open eyes. We actively take on the world as it is, not wait around for a world we wish to be … we are no longer just relying on the strength of our values, but also the value of our strength.
We've agreed a comprehensive strategic partnership with the EU, including joining SAFE, the European defence procurement arrangements. We've signed 12 other trade and security deals on four continents in 6 months."
https://lnkd.in/eDeQ9gEv
www.linkedin.com