By Obinna Uballa
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has delivered a sweeping and hard-hitting address in Davos, Switzerland, declaring that the global rules-based international order has effectively collapsed, amid aggressive push for Greenland by United States President, Donald Trump, and warning that middle-power nations must urgently band together or risk subordination in an era of unconstrained great-power rivalry.
In what observers described as one of the most consequential geopolitical speeches in years, Carney said the world has entered a “rupture, not a transition”, marked by the weaponisation of trade, finance and supply chains by dominant powers, and the erosion of multilateral institutions once relied upon for stability.
“The old, comfortable assumptions no longer hold. The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must – unless they act together,” Carney said.
Rejecting what he called the comforting fiction of a still-functioning rules-based order, the Canadian leader urged countries to stop “living within a lie” – a reference to Czech dissident Vaclav Havel – by continuing to invoke international norms that no longer constrain the powerful.
“For decades, we placed the sign in the window,” Carney said, alluding to Havel’s metaphor of ritualised compliance. “That bargain no longer works. It is time to take the sign down.”
While acknowledging the dominance of major powers, Carney insisted that middle powers such as Canada, Australia and others are not powerless, arguing they can jointly construct a new framework grounded in shared values, resilience and collective strength.
“If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” he warned, cautioning that bilateral engagement with hegemons often results in dependence rather than sovereignty.
Carney argued that strategic autonomy – in energy, food, defence, finance and critical minerals – has become essential, but warned against a world of isolated national “fortresses”, which he said would be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable.
Instead, he advocated “values-based realism”, combining principled commitments to sovereignty, territorial integrity and human rights with pragmatic engagement in a fractured global system.
The prime minister outlined a major shift in Canada’s domestic and foreign policy posture, saying his government is no longer relying solely on moral authority but also on “the value of our strength”.
He announced sweeping domestic reforms, including tax cuts on incomes and investment, removal of federal barriers to interprovincial trade, and fast-tracking $1 trillion in investment across energy, artificial intelligence, critical minerals and trade corridors.
Carney also confirmed that Canada will double defence spending by 2030, with a focus on strengthening domestic defence industries.
Internationally, he said Canada has aggressively diversified its partnerships, finalising a comprehensive strategic agreement with the European Union, joining Europe’s defence procurement framework, and signing 12 trade and security deals across four continents in the past six months.
He disclosed new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar, alongside ongoing free trade negotiations with India, ASEAN, Mercosur, Thailand and the Philippines.
Carney rejected what he termed “naive multilateralism”, instead promoting flexible, issue-based coalitions among countries with sufficient shared interests to act.
He highlighted Canada’s role in supporting Ukraine, defending Arctic sovereignty alongside Denmark and Greenland, opposing tariffs affecting the Arctic region, and working within NATO to secure the alliance’s northern flank.
On trade and technology, he said Canada is championing efforts to link the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the European Union, form G7-anchored buyer clubs for critical minerals, and cooperate with democracies on artificial intelligence to avoid dependence on either hegemons or dominant tech giants.
Carney concluded with a blunt call for honesty in global affairs, urging countries to stop selectively applying standards to allies and rivals.
“Apply the same standards to everyone,” he said. “When we criticise coercion from one direction and ignore it from another, we are still performing the ritual.”
