April 13, 2026
At his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 20, 2026, Mark Carney trumpeted the ‘fading’ of the ‘international order.’ “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” he said. But Carney – the central banker turned Liberal Party of Canada savior – was not referring to an international order which included the Global South; he was referring to the NATO-based order of Western powers still bent on imperial rule among the nations of the Global South. Carney’s crass opportunism and moral turpitude has been made clear in his complicit support – and continuing supply of arms to Israel – for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
As Ramzy Baroud expresses it in an article published in The Palestine Chronicle:
Yet, before mistaking Carney for a Sankara or a Lumumba, one must recall his administration’s record on the slaughter in Gaza. The irony is inescapable: Carney rails against a world where “might makes right” when it involves American tariffs or threats to Greenland, yet he presides over a policy that facilitates exactly that in the Middle East.
The contrast between Carney’s Davos persona and his actual policy on Gaza is best illustrated by a single moment in Calgary on April 8, 2025. During a campaign rally, Carney was interrupted by a shout: “Mr. Carney, there is a genocide in Palestine!” The Prime Minister responded directly: “I’m aware. That’s why we have an arms embargo.”
It did not take Carney long to back away from the statement. As penned by Evan Dyer in a CBC article, data uncovered by a group of researchers from four Canadian NGOs “found entries in the database of the Israel Tax Authority that show Canadian goods continuing to enter Israel, described by the Israeli government as military weapon parts and ammunition.” The abject hypocrisy and cynicism of the Carney government was made still clearer in November of 2025 when, as Ramzy Baroud points out in his article:
In Canada, while Carney pays lip service to international courts, his government filed a motion in November 2025 to dismiss El Batnigi v. Canada—a landmark case seeking to hold Ottawa accountable for its failure to prevent genocide. The government’s argument? That the court has no jurisdiction over “political questions” of foreign policy.
Ergo, as Baroud correctly points out, the ‘rupture’ that Carney pointed to in Davos refers to the private Imperialist Club’s bemoaning that “for the first time in generations, they feel the walls of the privileged club closing in on them. They scream for international law to protect their trade routes and borders from Trump, yet they actively dismantle that same law to shield an ally in Gaza.”
Floundering on Iran
Let us now pass to the current positions taken by the Carney government regarding the Israeli-American illegal and criminal attack against the sovereign state of Iran, and the Gaza-like ‘mow-the-lawn’ genocidal campaign against Lebanon which Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez – unlike Canada’s feckless Prime Minister – has denounced as seeking to “inflict the same level of damage and destruction” on Lebanon as on the Gaza Strip.
Former Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy has heavily criticized Prime Minister Mark Carney’s support for U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran in March 2026. Axworthy argued the support broke with Canadian tradition by backing a “unilateral and unlawful” action not authorized by the UN, comparing it unfavorably to Canada’s 2003 refusal to join the Iraq war.
Axworthy contends the attack violates international law, arguing that a middle power like Canada should not endorse such actions. He compared the situation to Canada’s decision in 2003 not to participate in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, criticizing the current government for abandoning that principled stance. Despite Carney later clarifying that his position was not a “blank check,” Axworthy and other critics argue that initial backing for the U.S.-led war was a dangerous and potentially illegal, misstep in foreign policy.
As the BBC has noted, Carney expressed strong support for the initial strikes when they were launched, arguing for the value of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. (No such reference to the nuclear stockpile owned by Israel). According to Carney, the war was necessary to prevent Iran ‘from further threatening international peace and security.’” A few days later, Carney said he supported the war “with regret” because the bombing of Iran seemed “inconsistent with international law.” On Friday, in the wake of reports that a Canadian military base in Kuwait had been hit, Carney stated, “We are not engaged in these actions of the U.S. and Israel. We’re not engaged in offensive actions, and we will not be engaged in those actions.”
These are empty words from a political leader who shies away from confronting the bullying Netanyahu-Trump tandem in the mistaken belief that such servitude will result in a better trade deal for Canada with the U.S. Despite Mark Carney’s trumpeting of the ‘rule-of-law’ and the ‘integrity of international law,’ he shows no respect for either in his pandering to the Trump-Netanyahu line on Iran. What is more, the Carney government – by virtue of laws limiting the principle of free speech and the pursuit of still greater militarism – is moving Canada even farther to the right. It is to be noted as well that Carney is taking a page out of the Trump administration’s crack-down in immigration through a newly passed law (Bill C-12), as expressed by a CBC news article:
A major bill reforming immigration powers is now law in Canada, giving Ottawa powers to mass cancel groups of visas and setting time limits on asylum claims in the name of bringing immigration numbers under control.
But the legislation, passed Thursday, has also raised concerns from a coalition of civil society groups, including Amnesty International, immigration lawyers and public sector unions, that says it places too much authority in the government’s hands and is vowing to fight it.
This is not just a move toward the right; it is a move toward the far-right!
The Carney government chose tacit support for genocide and war crimes in voting down the ‘No More Loopholes’ motion
Bill 233, ‘The No More Loopholes Act,’ was a bill designed to address Canada’s arming of genocide and war crimes, a motion presented in Parliament by NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East), meant to align Canadian arms exports with human rights and international law. Instead the Carney government has ensured that it will continue to provide an uninterrupted flow of Canadian weapons for Trump and Netanyahu’s escalating war crimes.
Prime Minister Carney has announced that Canada has reached NATO’s 2% of GDP spending target on warfare. He boasts that it’s the first time Ottawa has devoted such a large proportion of the country’s social wealth to warfare in four decades. His government is committed to spending tens of billions of dollars in order to reach the 5% of GDP that the Trump administration has insisted must be spent on armaments for NATO. That can only be attained by massive cuts to social programs and the public administration.
As presented on the website of Just Peace Advocates:
. . .the defeat of Bill C-233 signals a broader shift in Canadian policy under the new government.
“Mark Carney has made clear that his vision for Canada is one of deeper integration into the U.S. war economy,” said Yara Shoufani, President of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. “From expanding Canadian military production, to record breaking defence spending on American weapon systems, to aligning Canada’s foreign policy with Washington’s escalating wars, this government is entrenching Canada further inside the U.S. military-industrial complex.”
Advocates say the vote confirms that the government has chosen to prioritize the profits of arms manufacturers and the military interests of Trump and Netanyahu over international law and human rights.
War is ‘Big Business’
Prime Minister Carney is currently vying for Canada to play a leadership role in a brand new international war bank, the DSRB, with Toronto poised to host the global headquarters. The proposed Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) would provide a steady flow of public and private funds to weapons manufacturers to facilitate a rapid expansion of military production. This, of course, is being praised by provincial governments who would benefit by way of investment to arms manufacturers. In effect, WAR IS BIG BUSINESS!
But is war and destruction what the world needs? Is war and destruction what the people of Canada want? Carney and his oligarch backers are leading Canada down a road which can only lead to a social crisis in the country. Given Carney’s back and forth meandering on his position regarding Iran, his abject hypocrisy and moral turpitude on the question of Gaza, it is clear that Canada needs something better than Mark Carney and his Liberal (Zionist) Party at the helm of government. Canada requires something better than the Carney government in Ottawa! NO to Carney, No to Militarism!
paju.org
