Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered what observers are already calling an era-defining address at the World Economic Forum on Monday, earning a rare standing ovation from global political and business leaders as he declared "the old order is not coming back" and urged middle powers to stop accommodating great power coercion.
The speech, which criticized the deteriorating rules-based international order without naming the United States directly, invoked Czech dissident Václav Havel's concept of "living within a lie"—the idea that systems sustain themselves through collective performance of false belief rather than through truth or force alone.
"For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order," Carney said, according to The Globe and Mail. "We knew the story was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. So we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals. And largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality."
"This bargain no longer works," he continued. "We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition."
To understand today's headlines, we must look at yesterday's decisions. Havel's 1978 essay The Power of the Powerless described how communist systems sustained themselves through everyday complicity—his famous example of a greengrocer who places a sign reading "Workers of the world, unite!" in his window not because he believes it, but to avoid trouble. The system persists because everyone performs the ritual, and it fractures when even one person stops.
Carney's invocation of Havel suggests he views the current international moment not merely as a policy dispute but as a fundamental crisis of legitimacy—one that requires moral clarity rather than diplomatic equivocation.
"It is time for companies and countries to take their signs down," he said.
The speech received enthusiastic recognition from the international audience, a notable moment of diplomatic support from global leaders who increasingly view American unilateralism as destabilizing rather than merely assertive. Carney departed Davos immediately after his address, declining to meet with President Donald Trump, who spoke later in the day.
Carney's remarks laid out Canada's strategic pivot away from dependence on the United States, emphasizing what European Council President Alexander Stubb has termed "values-based realism"—principled in commitment to sovereignty and territorial integrity, pragmatic in recognizing that interests diverge and progress is often incremental.
Since taking office, Carney's government has cut taxes on incomes, capital gains, and business investment; removed all federal barriers to interprovincial trade; and fast-tracked a trillion dollars in investment in energy, AI, critical minerals, and new trade corridors. Canada is doubling defense spending by 2030, focusing on over-the-horizon radar, submarines, and Arctic patrol aircraft.
Internationally, Ottawa has concluded a comprehensive strategic partnership with the European Union, including joining SAFE, Europe's defense procurement arrangements. In the past six months, Canada has signed twelve trade and security deals on four continents. In recent days alone, Carney concluded new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar.
Canada is negotiating free trade pacts with India, ASEAN, Thailand, Philippines, and Mercosur.
"On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland's future," Carney said. "Our commitment to Article 5 is unwavering. Canada strongly opposes tariffs over Greenland and calls for focused talks to achieve shared objectives of security and prosperity for the Arctic."
Trade Minister Sidhu emphasized Canada's strategic diversification following the speech, noting that India will become the world's third-largest economy and that Ottawa seeks "opportunities across the world," according to the Globe.
The address positioned Canada as a vocal advocate for multilateral cooperation among middle powers—countries large enough to matter but not powerful enough to dictate terms unilaterally. Carney called this "variable geometry," different coalitions for different issues based on values and interests.
"Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu," he said. "Great powers can afford to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity, the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not."
The speech drew immediate response from Trump, who said during his own Davos address that "Canada lives because of the U.S."—a remark that appeared to validate Carney's thesis about the collapse of rules-based constraints on great power behavior.
Whether Carney's vision of middle-power coalition-building proves durable will depend on whether other countries follow Canada's lead. For now, the standing ovation in Davos suggests that many already have.
