Carney’s Canada

DAVID SOLWAY | 12:08 PM ON AUGUST 07, 2025

At the end of the 1880s, reports Desmond Morton in “A Short History of Canada,” the United States was booming while Canada stagnated. Even Friedrich Engels, during a visit to the U.S. and Canada in 1888, recognized “how necessary the feverish speculative spirit of the Americans is for the rapid development of a new country.” However, the situation was so bad in Canada that opposition leader Wilfrid Laurier, who became prime minister in 1896, ruefully stated, “We have come to a period in the history of this young country when premature dissolution seems to be at hand.” 

The late 1880s/early 1890s were a difficult time. The Winnipeg Free Press warned Newfoundland to give the Dominion a wide runaround. Nova Scotia was on the verge of repealing its membership in Confederation. It didn’t happen then, but it sure looks now that a bitter divorce may be in the offing as Alberta and Saskatchewan are contemplating striking out on their own as independent nations. 

And why not? Under the rule of a pasty-faced, rag-like, gormless dimidiatus like Mark Carney, there is very little reason to engage in the farce that Confederation has increasingly become, in particular for the Western provinces that can anticipate no respect or relief from the Eastern elites who exploit them. Alberta and Saskatchewan have been sedulously extorted as well as hampered by the Laurentian aristocracy in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto for as long as we can remembe

LEARN MORE

As Colin MacLeod argues in “The Case for Alberta’s Independence,” no path, constitutional or legislative, has offered the West structural equality within Confederation. Political reform, energy policy, and fiscal fairness have been frustrated by Ottawa since 1905, when the two provinces entered Confederation, apart from an administrative move in 1930 when the Western provinces belatedly received command of their land and natural resources.

Under Carney, the situation will only worsen. Writing in the Financial Post, author  Howard Levitt points to a man with “an explosive temper [who] had plagiarized portions of his doctoral thesis, misrepresented his objectives, had been ineffective in his previous jobs and spent the last several years attacking your major revenue stream.” Matthew Lynn of the Daily Telegraph noted, “It takes only a cursory glance at his record to work out that Carney’s reputation is completely overblown.” As governor of the Bank of England, “he was a disappointing failure.” He “created a mess [and] is the epitome of a remote, globalized, technocratic elite…very good at self-promotion, at collecting trophy jobs and of course negotiating fabulously generous salaries and expenses for himself.” Carney claims to be an outsider but is just another retail politician. 

Consider what Carney has brought us in the brief period he has been Canada’s prime minister.

Carney follows and boosts Justin’s agenda of swamping the country with immigrants, making it impossible for young people to find jobs and homes; 

counts on a nostalgic elderly cohort with little grasp of contemporary issues to hoist him to power; 

is ready to recognize dysfunctional Gaza and the West Bank as a nation;

believes Muslim values and Canadian values are identical;

according to the Candace Malcolm Show, continues to increase subsidies to Canada’s state broadcaster, or CBC, a meretricious corporation that few and fewer people trouble to follow, but which employs more than 250 directors, 450 managers, and 780 producers — all raking in six-figure salaries to support Carney and the Liberals; 

is responsible for rendering Canada fully exposed to Trump’s 35% tariff on the Canadian agri-food sector by refusing to bargain honorably, as Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, has explained;

has accepted WHO amendments which undermine national sovereignty and domestic health measures;

has effectively retained his predecessor’s well-poached, servile cabinet with a license to lie in stalwart support of Carney’s blowhard nonsense;

is happy to continue the Equalization Payments scandal, which has Alberta supplying the nation with $20 billion annually in net transfers, is eager to keep Western pipelines stalled by bureaucrats and activists, and is determined to oversee an over-regulated, green-mirage economy that is bankrupting the nation;

has watched Canada’s trade deficit widen to $6 billion;

has furthered Justin’s drastic clownification of the armed services;

and, as David Krayden writes, celebrates the sybaritic rites of Pride parades instead of honoring his commitment to lead the nation.

Carney, in effect an over-promiser under-deliverer, has found himself incapable or indifferent in the face of complex and demanding administrative questions and is grossly overmatched by Trump in current trade-and-tariff negotiations. He comes across as what he can no longer hide, a dismal failure at anything and everything to do with governing, as he was with banking. Watch for markets to close, family farms to shutter, and grocery bills to become even more unaffordable. 

In the wake of his destructive tenure, Carney, who is on the way to becoming the last prime minister of Canada, is now doing everything he can to divorce America economically and re-connect Canada to the EU, Britain and especially China, all while destroying Canada economically. Indeed, the gradual Sinification of Canada has become a significant policy initiative, along with opening other markets. 

Perhaps the country may enjoy a slight if temporary positive outcome with such initiatives, but considering 80% of our trade is U.S.-oriented, one may be permitted to remain skeptical. After all, Canada has been a north-south country since the fading away of the British Empire in the post-war 1920s and the eclipse of first Prime Minister John A. Macdonald’s dream of an east-west economic system. 

In any case, none of this hurts Carney. His Brookfield Asset Management portfolio has invested substantially everywhere profits may be envisioned, in line with the central program of globalist organizations, ESG funds, governments that own the Democrats, and, of course, Canada’s Liberals.

In the light of these events, and as in the 1880s, the idea of dissolution, separation, annexation, 51st state fantasies, continental union, or complete sovereignty for Alberta and Saskatchewan is once again on the table. There is no rationale for the two provinces to remain fettered to the Dominion. As the Winnipeg Free Press wrote back in the day, “There are few provinces, if any, in [Canada] today that would not rejoice to be out of it.” In the current moment, this is not entirely true, as Quebec is gorging at the barbecue, the Maritimes persist in enjoying the advantages of pogey, and British Columbia is somehow managing, thanks to a favorable coastline and Chinese immigrant money, despite an NDP government and a burgeoning debt — but it is certainly true for the rest of the West. 

One recalls passionate radicals like E.A. Partridge, editor of the Grain Growers’ Guide, who in the 1900s viewed the West as “a history of heartless robbery by the big vested interests.” He is here today in the persons of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.

Leaders like Wilfrid Laurier, who was prime minister until 1911, never really understood the needs of Western Canada, prioritizing patronage and control over political empathy — a significant error in judgment. But when one compares Mark Carney to Laurier, or to almost any other prime minister, one is in a different world altogether. 

Advertisement

The calamitous Pierre Elliott Trudeau, for example, regardless of the Marxist damage he wrought upon the country, was at least a man of intellectual attainments, and his son Justin, through the absurdities of his nature, provided some litotic entertainment as he proceeded to wreck the country. But Carney is another jigger of Caribou rotgut. Unlike the Trudeaus, he is neither a celebrity nor an imbecile, but he is a master of causing perithanatic oblivion on the political and economic scene. Unfortunately, Carney possesses no redeeming qualities whatsoever, neither as an ostentatious scholar nor a foppish pretty boy.

Nonetheless, this poor stuffing of a man appears content in his subterranean affairs as he prepares a resting place for the country. He is a happy man. As Hamlet says of the gravedigger, “Has this fellow no feeling of his business? He sings in grave-making.” Carney’s dulcet tones are rocking the land to sleep.

The U.S. may be enjoying a renaissance, but Marxism continues to hollow out the rest of the West. Remain alert to the rot — become a PJ Media VIP! You’ll access exclusive content, participate in our commenters community, and enjoy an ad-free experience — all while supporting our work. Right now, you will get 60% off your new annual membership with the promo code FIGHT. Join us today!

For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

David Solway is a Canadian poet, songwriter, and essayist. His most recent book is “Crossing the Jordan: on Judaism, Islam, and the West.” He has also released two CDs of original songs, “Blood Guitar” and “Partial to Cain.” Solway lives in Vancouver with his wife, author and video content creator Janice Fiamengo.