Snap out of denial—Mark Carney’s rightward-rushing agenda is just getting started
-
Mark Carney can apparently do no wrong. Scroll through comments on news articles, and you’ll encounter an energetic online army defending the prime minister’s every action.
Cancelling a tax on the world’s most profitable tech giants? A genius chess move in his trade war against Trump.
Advocating for new pipelines while the country burns from climate change-fuelled wildfires? A tough decision to shore up Canadian sovereignty.
Boosting spending on the military to record and wasteful levels? A responsible counter to supposed perils like Russia or North Korea.
Expanding surveillance powers to crackdown on refugee rights? Well, at least he’s not Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
The U.S. President’s tariffs and threats have left Canadians anxious and disoriented, giving Carney an opportunity to move fast and with far too little scrutiny. He’s pushing through pro-corporate policies that go beyond anything he outlined on the campaign trail. The agenda is so right-wing, in fact, The Globe and Mail last week gleefully noted that “Brian Mulroney could have endorsed it.”
It’s no wonder that Carney is trying to push through his agenda as fast as possible, while Canadians remain disoriented. The prime minister’s newly-appointed top senior civil servant, Michael Sabia, is clear about this Canadian-style shock doctrine: “windows of opportunity open and close,” he wrote in a letter to civil servants on Monday. Sabia would be one to know: once upon a time he helped none other than Brian Mulroney privatize a rash of Crown corporations. Carney has even openly signalled he’s preparing to purge any civil servants who don’t get in line (with “high-level talk of recruiting other business achievers” to replace them).
We need to drop the Carney denialism in a hurry, and get angry instead. The prime minister, a consummate technocrat who knows how to cater to elite interests, is taking Canadians for a ride, while servicing his natural constituency: bankers, tech broligarchs, oil barons, and arms manufacturers. It’s time we open our eyes, clue in to what’s happening, follow the money—and put up a fight.
Yup. Hes right wing it was a gamble going for him to avoid to far worse Poilievre. That at least I still stand by.
The rage worthy thing is that prior to the election he was openly resisting Trump.
That is he revealing himself to be Carney the Coward instead of Carney the Courageous is really bad. Good thing the Bloc will never allow Carney to sell out our Dairy, so we have at least some degree of food security. Also good my partner and I know enough French to move to Quebec if things get bad.
-
Yup. Hes right wing it was a gamble going for him to avoid to far worse Poilievre. That at least I still stand by.
The rage worthy thing is that prior to the election he was openly resisting Trump.
That is he revealing himself to be Carney the Coward instead of Carney the Courageous is really bad. Good thing the Bloc will never allow Carney to sell out our Dairy, so we have at least some degree of food security. Also good my partner and I know enough French to move to Quebec if things get bad.
Good thing the Bloc will never allow Carney to sell out our Dairy
How’re they gonna stop him if he decides to to that? The cons would back him. Sure he would probably lose the next election if he does that, but is there an actual mechanism for BQ to block such a move if he doesn’t care to win again?
-
Mark Carney can apparently do no wrong. Scroll through comments on news articles, and you’ll encounter an energetic online army defending the prime minister’s every action.
Cancelling a tax on the world’s most profitable tech giants? A genius chess move in his trade war against Trump.
Advocating for new pipelines while the country burns from climate change-fuelled wildfires? A tough decision to shore up Canadian sovereignty.
Boosting spending on the military to record and wasteful levels? A responsible counter to supposed perils like Russia or North Korea.
Expanding surveillance powers to crackdown on refugee rights? Well, at least he’s not Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
The U.S. President’s tariffs and threats have left Canadians anxious and disoriented, giving Carney an opportunity to move fast and with far too little scrutiny. He’s pushing through pro-corporate policies that go beyond anything he outlined on the campaign trail. The agenda is so right-wing, in fact, The Globe and Mail last week gleefully noted that “Brian Mulroney could have endorsed it.”
It’s no wonder that Carney is trying to push through his agenda as fast as possible, while Canadians remain disoriented. The prime minister’s newly-appointed top senior civil servant, Michael Sabia, is clear about this Canadian-style shock doctrine: “windows of opportunity open and close,” he wrote in a letter to civil servants on Monday. Sabia would be one to know: once upon a time he helped none other than Brian Mulroney privatize a rash of Crown corporations. Carney has even openly signalled he’s preparing to purge any civil servants who don’t get in line (with “high-level talk of recruiting other business achievers” to replace them).
We need to drop the Carney denialism in a hurry, and get angry instead. The prime minister, a consummate technocrat who knows how to cater to elite interests, is taking Canadians for a ride, while servicing his natural constituency: bankers, tech broligarchs, oil barons, and arms manufacturers. It’s time we open our eyes, clue in to what’s happening, follow the money—and put up a fight.
Might have been a good idea to support the smaller parties by volunteering and donating to them instead of the liberals and conservatives. He’s likely going to resist proportional representation alongside Andrew Sheer while laughing how you thought he would oppose Pierre Poilievre policies.
The 2 corporate parties already have enough support from the rich backers.
-
People were foolish enough to give the liberals and conservatives enough seats for a majority so we’re going to lose a lot.
-
Carney is and always was a neo-liberal banker. :It seems inevitable, all things considered, that the fossil-fuel powered neo-liberal capitalism the West (maybe English speaking countries) has experienced since Reagan (and Thatcher) will only set the stage for fascism.
A choice between right or hard right is a choice between the length of fuse you want on the bomb. Unfortunately, the longer the fuse the bigger the bomb - because of the problem-multiplying impacts of things like climate change and poverty/reduction in education etc etc etc.
This why we need proportional representation already so we can actually vote for leftists instead 1 of 2 horrible options.
-
Mark Carney can apparently do no wrong. Scroll through comments on news articles, and you’ll encounter an energetic online army defending the prime minister’s every action.
Cancelling a tax on the world’s most profitable tech giants? A genius chess move in his trade war against Trump.
Advocating for new pipelines while the country burns from climate change-fuelled wildfires? A tough decision to shore up Canadian sovereignty.
Boosting spending on the military to record and wasteful levels? A responsible counter to supposed perils like Russia or North Korea.
Expanding surveillance powers to crackdown on refugee rights? Well, at least he’s not Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
The U.S. President’s tariffs and threats have left Canadians anxious and disoriented, giving Carney an opportunity to move fast and with far too little scrutiny. He’s pushing through pro-corporate policies that go beyond anything he outlined on the campaign trail. The agenda is so right-wing, in fact, The Globe and Mail last week gleefully noted that “Brian Mulroney could have endorsed it.”
It’s no wonder that Carney is trying to push through his agenda as fast as possible, while Canadians remain disoriented. The prime minister’s newly-appointed top senior civil servant, Michael Sabia, is clear about this Canadian-style shock doctrine: “windows of opportunity open and close,” he wrote in a letter to civil servants on Monday. Sabia would be one to know: once upon a time he helped none other than Brian Mulroney privatize a rash of Crown corporations. Carney has even openly signalled he’s preparing to purge any civil servants who don’t get in line (with “high-level talk of recruiting other business achievers” to replace them).
We need to drop the Carney denialism in a hurry, and get angry instead. The prime minister, a consummate technocrat who knows how to cater to elite interests, is taking Canadians for a ride, while servicing his natural constituency: bankers, tech broligarchs, oil barons, and arms manufacturers. It’s time we open our eyes, clue in to what’s happening, follow the money—and put up a fight.
Get angry, but not irrationally.
Give the Carney government and MPs grace by telling them about what change you want to see.
I still have some faith that Carney is smarter than most politicians, that if there is a popular push for more progressive reforms, he would go along with it.
If opposition is limited to “I’m angry that you canceled the DST! I’m angry that you passed Bill 5!” that can be passed off as too vague of a criticism and doesn’t really suggest a suitable alternative direction. Carney did a bunch of right wing stuff because they were confident they would get overwhelming house support, he would have something concrete to show for his first two months in this term. The NDP are kind of disarray and the party apparatus lost touch with local, grassroots campaigns that got people to support them. Even former NDP MP Charlie Angus would say as much.
-
This why we need proportional representation already so we can actually vote for leftists instead 1 of 2 horrible options.
Yes please.
-
Get angry, but not irrationally.
Give the Carney government and MPs grace by telling them about what change you want to see.
I still have some faith that Carney is smarter than most politicians, that if there is a popular push for more progressive reforms, he would go along with it.
If opposition is limited to “I’m angry that you canceled the DST! I’m angry that you passed Bill 5!” that can be passed off as too vague of a criticism and doesn’t really suggest a suitable alternative direction. Carney did a bunch of right wing stuff because they were confident they would get overwhelming house support, he would have something concrete to show for his first two months in this term. The NDP are kind of disarray and the party apparatus lost touch with local, grassroots campaigns that got people to support them. Even former NDP MP Charlie Angus would say as much.
I have been spending the last few decades bottling up my anger into a very, very large tank. Let me know when you need me, I’m hoping I’ll be able to supply enough for everyone.
I always knew Carney could potentially turn this way. I was expecting it. I still would have voted for him (if PM was a position we voted for and I was not voting strategically, which my riding lost anyway) but my vote for him was mostly a vote for a pro-Europe alignment, which I still think he’ll deliver, albeit probably not in the size or shape I was hoping for. But with really only two choices, it’s really hard to pretend we’re still able to call this actual democracy. We need electoral reform, and badly, and I’m not sure if we’ll really get another chance. We’re on a bad path and I don’t see any escape routes.
-
Carney the politician would apparently do anything for votes.
-
Mark Carney can apparently do no wrong. Scroll through comments on news articles, and you’ll encounter an energetic online army defending the prime minister’s every action.
Cancelling a tax on the world’s most profitable tech giants? A genius chess move in his trade war against Trump.
Advocating for new pipelines while the country burns from climate change-fuelled wildfires? A tough decision to shore up Canadian sovereignty.
Boosting spending on the military to record and wasteful levels? A responsible counter to supposed perils like Russia or North Korea.
Expanding surveillance powers to crackdown on refugee rights? Well, at least he’s not Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
The U.S. President’s tariffs and threats have left Canadians anxious and disoriented, giving Carney an opportunity to move fast and with far too little scrutiny. He’s pushing through pro-corporate policies that go beyond anything he outlined on the campaign trail. The agenda is so right-wing, in fact, The Globe and Mail last week gleefully noted that “Brian Mulroney could have endorsed it.”
It’s no wonder that Carney is trying to push through his agenda as fast as possible, while Canadians remain disoriented. The prime minister’s newly-appointed top senior civil servant, Michael Sabia, is clear about this Canadian-style shock doctrine: “windows of opportunity open and close,” he wrote in a letter to civil servants on Monday. Sabia would be one to know: once upon a time he helped none other than Brian Mulroney privatize a rash of Crown corporations. Carney has even openly signalled he’s preparing to purge any civil servants who don’t get in line (with “high-level talk of recruiting other business achievers” to replace them).
We need to drop the Carney denialism in a hurry, and get angry instead. The prime minister, a consummate technocrat who knows how to cater to elite interests, is taking Canadians for a ride, while servicing his natural constituency: bankers, tech broligarchs, oil barons, and arms manufacturers. It’s time we open our eyes, clue in to what’s happening, follow the money—and put up a fight.
So far, I’m very happy with this man. A great replacement for our last trainwreck of a social justice PM we had.
Wouldn’t trade Carney for anyone else.
-
Carney the politician would apparently do anything for votes.
That’s literally every politician’s job.
-
Good thing the Bloc will never allow Carney to sell out our Dairy
How’re they gonna stop him if he decides to to that? The cons would back him. Sure he would probably lose the next election if he does that, but is there an actual mechanism for BQ to block such a move if he doesn’t care to win again?
The CPC wants government. They need Quebec seats to get it.
The last Conservative I can remember who openly talked about supply management in Quebec is Maxime Bernier. He is no longer in the party and no longer holds his Quebec seat.
-
Get angry, but not irrationally.
Give the Carney government and MPs grace by telling them about what change you want to see.
I still have some faith that Carney is smarter than most politicians, that if there is a popular push for more progressive reforms, he would go along with it.
If opposition is limited to “I’m angry that you canceled the DST! I’m angry that you passed Bill 5!” that can be passed off as too vague of a criticism and doesn’t really suggest a suitable alternative direction. Carney did a bunch of right wing stuff because they were confident they would get overwhelming house support, he would have something concrete to show for his first two months in this term. The NDP are kind of disarray and the party apparatus lost touch with local, grassroots campaigns that got people to support them. Even former NDP MP Charlie Angus would say as much.
It’s kind of hard for any public opinion to sway a PM whose whole career has been the role of a central banker, ie., someone whose job is to know better than the whims of the moment. I think this will be exactly Carney’s blind spot, that he will be too hard to allow himself to not know better than the hoi polloi.
-
I hear a lot of bitching and moaning, and no ideas, no proposed solutions.
Cory Doctorow has been proposing some very innovative left wing positions.
-
I have been spending the last few decades bottling up my anger into a very, very large tank. Let me know when you need me, I’m hoping I’ll be able to supply enough for everyone.
I always knew Carney could potentially turn this way. I was expecting it. I still would have voted for him (if PM was a position we voted for and I was not voting strategically, which my riding lost anyway) but my vote for him was mostly a vote for a pro-Europe alignment, which I still think he’ll deliver, albeit probably not in the size or shape I was hoping for. But with really only two choices, it’s really hard to pretend we’re still able to call this actual democracy. We need electoral reform, and badly, and I’m not sure if we’ll really get another chance. We’re on a bad path and I don’t see any escape routes.
“I don’t see any escape routes” “really only two choices”
The NDP are right there. You can prattle on as long as you want but if you want to see change then you have to ask for it. He NDP has popular ideas and they were behind so much of the good stuff the Liberals put their name on but people act like voting for them just isn’t possible for some reason and then moan when people they did vote for don’t care after about them after the election.
The only thing that truly matters is your vote and if you don’t use it properly, while complaining that you’re getting what you ordered, there’s just no helping you.
-
That’s literally every politician’s job.
No it’s not. It’s literally every politicians job to represent the people in their riding by engaging with them often to know what the majority of people want and then doing that.
That isn’t what they do however and we as citizens don’t hold them accountable for it.
-
What “solutions” are there? We just had an election. And at the moment, there is no real opposition party. The Liberals and Conservatives are basically aligned on most of this, so between the two of them, they have a potential super majority to pass anything they want.
Anyone having buyers remorse at this point, is shit out of luck.
That’s where protest and disruption come in. The LibCons are doing their best right now to piss off the entire public sector; I have no doubt that union leadership are already talking strikes, at least internally. The people always have power.
-
This why we need proportional representation already so we can actually vote for leftists instead 1 of 2 horrible options.
If only a party in the past had campaigned on that very issue. I’m sure if they hadn’t delivered, we would never elect them again!
-
Slogans and cancelling Prime for a few years isn’t going to stop the US from rolling over us, militarily or economically if they really want. It’s great everyone is willing to fight a 30 year insurgency but who wants that. I’ll be dead before seeing any kind of Canada again. Yes I selfishly want the chance at retirement I was promised my whole life. I don’t want a war if it can be avoided.
Anytime I bring up that this time is the last time Canada can build nukes with at least some plausible deniability that they aren’t aimed at the US, I’m told they’ll never allow it and it’s immoral and it’s not the Canadian way. It’s the only chance to hold off an American threat for long enough to get through this but apparently hardly any Canadians want them. So negotiation is the only way. And we’re not strong enough or unified enough to force our hand. Time is needed to forge new alliances and firm trade partners.
Carney was always a compromise to stave off a horrible outcome. No one is going to be happy. The right didn’t win, the left can’t get what they want and the middle has to scrape and fight to just maintain some of what we have. Nowhere near enough people want what the NDP is selling. Too many in the centre were dismissed, or called racist, or misogynistic, or homophobic, or fascist or whatever for veering from the party line. So too many gave up or just turned right just to feel like they’d get something.
The way this country over reacts to any kind news, real, exaggerated, contrived or just out and planted by agitators is so fucking disheartening.
-
“I don’t see any escape routes” “really only two choices”
The NDP are right there. You can prattle on as long as you want but if you want to see change then you have to ask for it. He NDP has popular ideas and they were behind so much of the good stuff the Liberals put their name on but people act like voting for them just isn’t possible for some reason and then moan when people they did vote for don’t care after about them after the election.
The only thing that truly matters is your vote and if you don’t use it properly, while complaining that you’re getting what you ordered, there’s just no helping you.
Yes, that’s exactly who I voted for. This is what attitudes like yours have wrought. They lost my riding to the Conservatives. Because they’re a fucking disaster of a party right now. Don’t blame me. I didn’t fuck them up. Their lack of credibility comes largely from their own members, organization, and choices. Not from voters nor any other external factors, and if you’re blaming external factors you’re wasting your time. Yeah there are some, but this was mostly self-inflicted and utterly predictable (in fact it was predicted). I’m a Peter Kormos/Charlie Angus style NDP supporter, and there’s a reason the people with actual grassroots support always get sidelined and marginalized. The NDP is a sucky choice too. The people who would represent me very well are out there. Unfortunately, I’m not given an opportunity to vote for them.
First Past The Post is part of the problem. The NDP is another part of the problem.
