Carney Announces Canada's Priorities in Fight for Values

Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, has been elected. “Now we have to deliver. That is what we are doing, and Canadians are ready to do it,” a quote from Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada. Following the promises enshrined in the Liberal government's program, Carney outlined his priorities for the upcoming parliamentary session, including better economic cooperation with provinces and territories, expanding the network to achieve international trade agreements, reforming the criminal justice system, fostering artificial intelligence, and making massive investments in defense. This is the first time Carney and his ministers have met since the House of Commons went into recess in December, and this comes shortly after the prime minister's nine-day trip to China, Qatar, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Historically, Canadian prime ministers meet with their cabinets before a new session to set their agenda of priorities, although the tone this year is notably tougher. His speech on January 22nd is the second time this week Carney has referenced the shift in the United States under Donald Trump's presidency. His office stated that Carney also wrote much of his speech for his meeting with the cabinet. On Tuesday in Davos, Carney spoke of American hegemony, saying that world powers are using economic integration as a weapon. In that speech that garnered great attention worldwide, Carney said that middle powers like Canada must work together or end up on the menu of great powers that are using economic integration as a weapon to impose subjugation. The official agenda for the meetings stated the cabinet would focus on the economy, affordability, and security, and it is expected that ministers and secretaries of state will discuss the progress of their mandates. “We are not one of them,” Carney said in prepared remarks ahead of what is being called a cabinet planning forum. Carney argued that Canada must be a beacon, an example for a world at sea. “In an era of democratic backsliding, we can show how rights can be protected and equality of freedoms preserved,” Carney said. His speech kicked off two days of meetings with his MPs. Following the promises enshrined in the Liberal government's program, Mark Carney outlined his priorities for the upcoming parliamentary session. “Fairly and quickly,” Carney said, by way of response to critics who have argued he needs to back up his big declarations with facts. Carney also promised to protect services like childcare, dental care, and pharmaceutical care, and to defend the vulnerable, whether newcomers, people with disabilities, or members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community. “You have to fight for our values,” Carney said. The cabinet will remain in session for two days behind the stone walls of the Citadelle, a historic military base and secondary residence of the Governor General that looms over the Quebec capital. It was fortified in the 19th century in an effort to protect the city from a possible American attack, and in 1943 it was the site of the Quebec Conference, when Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met in secret to plan a strategy during the Second World War. Carney drew on part of that history in his speech, describing the decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham when the British, French, and First Nations faced off in a decisive battle. “The response that emerged, slow, imperfect, not without struggle, but unequivocally, was cooperation. A shared future. Partnership. That response was not inevitable.”