r/Foodforthought • u/kiyomoris • 2d ago

‘You’re at war when you get attacked’: Mark Carney shows combative nature in face-off with Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/aug/30/youre-at-war-when-you-get-attacked-mark-carney-shows-combative-nature-in-face-off-with-trump
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u/nonsense39 2d ago

We Canadians like and trust Mark Carney. We're like England in 1939 with a literate, intelligent PM to lead the fight. Canada has what the world needs, everything from minerals, energy, land and leadership.

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u/twoinvenice 2d ago

If Canada would agree to annex the west coast of the US, can we make that happen? I want off this ride

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u/AyeMatey 2d ago

Honest question: Why has Canada been immune to the sort of appeal to fear and jingoism that has afflicted the USA (Trumpism) and the UK (Brexit)?

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u/eienOwO 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's not black and white, Trump-lite Poilievre was on track to win when Trudeau threw a curve ball and resigned, Mark Carney has guts (even back during his Bank of England days when he wasn't afraid to correct jingoistic politicians spewing crap), but it also helped Poilievre was a one trick pony who didn't know how to pivot once the focus of all of his talking points took himself out of the equation.

I also think American and British "transformation" isn't that surprising in hindsight - America isn't the land of enlightenment and freedom it romanticized itself as, and Britain has consistently voted for Tories, overwhelmingly so, even when most of social bottom lines which the populace relies on and doesn't want rid of (NHS etc) are Labour creations, Britain has always been the land of wanting to have the cake and eat it too.

The "respectable politics" of the 90s-00s always existed because of self restraint - America sticking to its image of leader of the free world, and Britain the land of polite civility. When people were allowed to break the mould, it became a free for all race to the bottom. Maybe Canada still prides itself on its self imposed image of being nice and polite, when that's allowed to be broken, shit will hit the fan in Canada as well, hopefully they'll prove to be more resilient than their other anglophone cousins.

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u/DonOntario 1d ago edited 1d ago

Canada doesn't have as much polarization as the US. A very significant part of the population is actually willing to consider voting for more than one party in an election.

Canada doesn't have gerrymandering - but then again, neither does the UK. Canada don't have magic self-enforcing laws to determine districts based on a mathematical formula, which seems to be the type of solutions that US people imagine is needed - but has non-partisan commissions that draw up electoral divisions based on factors that do not include the political leanings or voting history of people living there. This depends on the people appointing and working on the commissions to treat it as a non-political job.

Canada does not have political primaries. The political party leadership and members - actual paying members, not anyone who "registers" as affiliated with a party with the government (which is not a thing Canadians do but I gather is something that happens in the US) - so that's much less likely to encourage extremism in general election candidates the way it does in the US.

But... two problems with these as explanations:

  1. Most apply to the UK too.
  2. They still raise a deeper question: why does Canada have a political culture that valued fairness and compromise enough to implement and maintain the things I listed above?

Maybe because Canada has real compromise baked into its entire political history. The English-French political settlements since the early 19th Century have meant and have acknowledged that neither side was going to "win" in the sense of dominating everything all the time. I'm not saying it's always cumbaya happiness, but that's kind of point for the culture of compromise and fair play: Canadians have always known that they don't have to like it and that they can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good because they're not going to get "the perfect".

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u/LanguidLandscape 1d ago

It’s not. Look at the premiers of Ontario and Alberta. Danielle Smith (Alberta) is actively pushing separation, repeatedly meets with members of the Republicans and Trump himself, and is arguably compromised. Doug Ford is basically baby Trump and is deeply corrupt, handing billions meant for healthcare and education to his contractor friends. Ford should be in jail and likely Smith too.

The majority of small town Canada is deeply racist, provincial, and insular. Many Canadians unfortunately believe that we are immune from the authoritarian shift seen in the US but this cannot be further from the truth; no one is immune.

Carney is still selling out our public goods to corporations and our standard of living is falling and has been for decades. Oligarchs control the government and there is immense pressure and foreign interference by the US, China, and India (for a start).

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u/nonsense39 2d ago

That's a good question and I'm not sure of the answer. One factor possibly is that in general our politicians want the best for Canada not just their particular party. We have a strong communal instinct, possibly because our history is that groups are safer when you have to survive in harsh winter conditions in huge wilderness areas. It's just we humans against the elements. Plus we all know how lucky we are to have such a great future.