[afransen]

The Davos speech was primarily for China.
Taken together with the "New World Order" speech that Carney was forced to do in a struggle session in China - it was really China getting Carney to rally whatever middle powers he can to join a Chine led effort to defeat the USA.
It was anti-USA so of course it was lauded domestically, but the real message was that Canada believe firmly in China and others should too.

That's certainly a take. I think you're filling in a lot of dots that aren't there, though.

 

[Lennox970]

I thought it was obvious that he was appealing to middle powers and economies. And he has followed that up with specific diplomacy to middle powers this government is trying to court like South Korea. But everybody is a cynic.

Not cynical, but if closer alignment was a genuine policy objective, I assumed the diplomacy would have been completed before this speech was delivered. Other than that, it is either a conversation starter and/or for your domestic audience.

I will call this out. This is the first PM in my lifetime to attempt to hit 2%. And is already planning for well past that to the NATO 3.5 + 1.5 target. I can legitimately see the change at work. You won't find a serving member today who would argue that Carney treats defence "like an afterthought". Indeed, it's very much central to his attempt to at least boost some of the industrial economy. After all, one destroyer has the same amount of steel as 50 000 cars. The 1.5 is also about driving whole of government reform on security that we've never done. From critical stockpiles to infrastructure protection. Conversations that I have never had till now. Under a PM of any stripe before.

It appears that we raised our defence budget in response to Trump pounding the table at the NATO Summit in June. Rather than, say, because we are the second-largest country in the world and the defence and sovereignty of our national territory requires a significantly larger capability than we already have.

I'd just joined the CF in the mid-80s when Mulroney was promising big things—nuclear subs, etc. Pretty certain we hit the 2%+ for a while. Then the Cold War ended, budgets were cut, and rust out began, and basic capabilities atrophied (e.g. naval helicopters became a luxury item). Defence very much seemed an afterthough for 30 years.

So, yes, Carney announced big intentions a few months ago, I'll grant you that. But let's see if that can last a generation, in good times and bad, across multiple governments and changes of US administration. I would love to see this become part of 'business as usual' for government.

 

[Lennox970]

You don't get to revise history and say that Carney's Davos speech only had domestic impact. It caused a lot of waves in foreign press and power circles. If it was purely for domestic consumption, he would not have given that speech in Davos.

Good point, but I am not revising history, just analyzing what he said and wondering why he was pointing out what had been obvious to everyone for a decade.

Mind you, some of what he said would definitely not go down well with a certain Canadian audience. "Living within the lie..." could be construed as calling out some blatant, but unsayable, untruths.

 

[kEiThZ]

He would have been hounded by the media until he made a statement. A statement is not really optional for a major military action like this. He cold have been more ambivalent, maybe.

Given that both the left and the right are mad, this is classically in the sweet spot.

I'll be more than happy to vote LPC again if Carney is at the helm.

 

[kEiThZ]

You don't get to revise history and say that Carney's Davos speech only had domestic impact. It caused a lot of waves in foreign press and power circles. If it was purely for domestic consumption, he would not have given that speech in Davos.

"I am not cynical."

Proceeds to make a cynical statement entirely biased by personal politics.

Exactly. That speech was not about the domestic audience. Indeed, I think the domestic audience was lagging only really reacted because so much of the international press picked it up. He's also clearly tried to operationalize the ideas in the speech with policy follow up. So it wasn't just an empty attempt.

 

[afransen]

Exactly. That speech was not about the domestic audience. Indeed, I think the domestic audience was lagging only really reacted because so much of the international press picked it up. He's also clearly tried to operationalize the ideas in the speech with policy follow up. So it wasn't just an empty attempt.

I think it would have made less of an impression domestically if we didn't see it picked up by foreign press. We are used to Canada getting ignored. And Carney was not really saying anything new in terms of what he calls the 'rupture'. It's what he's been saying for the past year. He was a bit more pointed and poignant about our complicity in the sometimes lie of the 'rules based global order' and how we are culpable, and now that the US is not playing their role in that fiction, the narrative is having to change. The only question is what countries like Canada do about it. We can all pretend we have no agency and suffer the whims of the great powers, or use what power we have intelligently to advance our interests and not be pushed around like mere vassals.

 

[lenaitch]

I mean he simply made a new agency to get around the current bureaucracy. The new DIA is taking over every defence project above $100M. This won't solve getting boots faster. But it will change the procurement of big stuff. He's also forcing other government departments to go back and look at their previous security and emergency mandates. We know how to protect nuclear plants. But nobody has really talked about how we protect a Bell exchange or our ammunition plants in Quebec or the armoured vehicle plant in London. This will also change the military being the easy button for disaster relief instead of the other government agencies doing their jobs.

This is restoring basic competence to government. It won't get the blood flowing for any leftists or hardcore conservative, as we see here. But was deeply necessary.

I sure hope you right and not simply replacing one type of risk-averse bureaucracy for another. I don't recall if Treasury Board still has a role in DIA purchases. They also need to be able to end-run or at least truncate appeals by losing bidders so they don't bog the system down. Many are without merit, and I'm convinced are filed simply with the expectation that the government will throw them a bone with another contract for something just to shut them up.

So, yes, Carney announced big intentions a few months ago, I'll grant you that. But let's see if that can last a generation, in good times and bad, across multiple governments and changes of US administration. I would love to see this become part of 'business as usual' for government.

That is a concern of many; that once Trump leaves things will go back to some type of normal and the pressure for military spending will give way to social programs and the deficit.

I'm not convinced the post-trump world will look like the pre-Trump one.

 

[81-717]

I wonder if the parents of that all girl elementary school that Israel bombed are celebrating

FTFY.

 

[kEiThZ]

I don't recall if Treasury Board still has a role in DIA purchases.

The DIA CEO will get the authority to approve up to a delegation of $10B. No TB approval required.

 

[PL1]

FTFY.

Why not tell me what I'm clicking on when you post two separate embedded links (FT and FY) which I have no idea (in advance) what they mean???

 

[Admiral Beez]

And I thought we were done with Indian international students.

India-Canada education push: PM Mark Carney announces 13 university pacts; McGill to set up AI centre in India

Carney’s visit follows earlier meetings between the two leaders in Kananaskis in June 2025 and Johannesburg in November 2025. In addition to official talks, Modi and Carney are scheduled to participate in the India-Canada CEOs forum.

indianexpress.com

I hope this time around we do it right.

- will we verify their documents this time?
- will we say no to the education to refugee transitions?
- will we be sure they attend school?
- will we stop them working 40h a week at Tims?

That said, I support the thoughtful exchange of Indian students and the attraction of high quality students for PR especially for STEM at the masters and phd levels. I do no support the totally thoughtless student program that the Trudeau Liberals supported (note many of those Liberals are still in the government).

 

[zang]

FTFY.

Got anything from an actual news organization to back that up? I can't find a single fact-checked article saying it was definitely an Iranian missile.

I'm sorry, but content creators aren't exactly known for their truthiness, especially given they're incentivized to jump on whatever gets them more clicks from their target audience.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

...I mean it was people yelling gibberish into a camera. No context.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

Some observations from personal experience today:
1. Traffic jams north of the city due to Iranians celebrating in the street.
2. Iranians I personally know are over the moon with joy. Happiest day of their lives, they said.
3. My friend who is so low-information politically speaking that she probably wouldn't be able to tell the last name of the Canadian PM, she was bombarded with talks about the Iran strikes all morning (she had a lot of Iranian clients today). They are all celebrating and today's events is all they are talking about.

And I'll just leave it there for you to make up your mind who was on the right side of history today.

Anecdotes aside, I am most certainly not standing with the fascists if that's what you mean.