{"id":2400,"date":"2026-04-16T07:48:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T11:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/?p=2400"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:48:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T11:48:59","slug":"mark-carneys-surprise-makeover-of-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/mark-carneys-surprise-makeover-of-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Carney\u2019s Surprise Makeover of Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mark Carney’s duping delight seems to be tattooed on his face, but when you’re dealing with sheeple, that’s what happens: you mistake being a farmer with being a god.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But you can see why the farmer is so smug. Canadians woke up this week to discover that the furniture has been rearranged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we were trying to keep up with grocery bills and rent, Prime Minister Mark Carney was on the ice with Finland\u2019s President Alexander Stubb, talking defence, AI, quantum, and the \u201cfuture of Europe\u201d, including the idea that Canada could \u201ceventually\u201d be part of a much larger EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The optics were cute: two sensible centrists, high\u2011vis vests swapped for hockey jerseys, assuring us that our pragmatic little country is on the right path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The substance was something else: binding security\u2011of\u2011information talks, deeper technology and defence cooperation, and the quiet normalization of Canada as an honorary European protectorate without anything resembling a national conversation.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t consultation.
This is brute\u2011force livestocking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving the fences, then announcing the \u201cchoice\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In his CBC interview, Stubb mused that he can \u201cenvisage a much larger EU,\u201d and gently floated the notion that Canada could, theoretically, be part of that enlarged project because our \u201cvalue base\u201d is so close to Europe\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He framed it as Canada\u2019s choice, but the order of operations gives the game away: first you deepen defence, tech, and standards integration, then you introduce the idea that Canada is practically European already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s livestocking: move the fences in the night, then in the morning tell the herd they\u2019ve \u201cdecided\u201d to graze in a new pasture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time ordinary Canadians are told about \u201cstrategic partnerships\u201d and \u201cvalues\u2011based multilateralism,\u201d the important decisions: about security posture, supply chains, and who really holds the reins on standards, are already made.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenters have already noticed that Stubb\u2019s line is being clipped, shared, and spun as proof that Canada \u201cbelongs\u201d in Europe, even though he also says explicitly that it\u2019s up to Canada, meaning, in theory, Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, this flirtation is happening between leaders who text each other \u201calmost daily,\u201d skating together for the cameras while the substance gets buried in readouts no one voted on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority built without a fresh mandate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All of this would still be troubling under a clear, recent electoral mandate.
Carney doesn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He just secured a majority not by going back to the country, but through three by\u2011elections and floor crossings that pushed his Liberals over the line in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s constitutional, but deeply anti\u2011consultative: voters never had a chance to say whether they wanted a Carney majority that can now ram through legislation and control committees with minimal resistance.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When critics point this out, the answer from his defenders is always the same: calm down, grown\u2011ups are in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carney, we are told, is the consummate technocrat, global central banker, Davos veteran, manager of crises, who simply knows better than the people who would otherwise slow him down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is not a partner.
That is a controlling spouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada as the controlled partner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The marriage metaphor fits because this is intimate power, not just abstract policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carney\u2019s public persona is the classic \u201cresponsible\u201d husband who insists on handling the finances because it\u2019s all very complicated and stressful, and besides, he\u2019s so good at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He speaks fluent banker and summit\u2011ese, so he expects Canadians to accept that he alone can navigate climate rules, AI norms, defence industrial policy, and now the delicate courtship with a \u201clarger EU\u201d on our behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people object: to his path to majority, to his climate and economic strategies, to his habit of framing critics as unserious or dangerous, they\u2019re treated like unreasonable spouses making a scene at a dinner party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The message is: you\u2019re overreacting, you don\u2019t understand the big picture, and anyway, look at how much worse it could be with someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the \u201chouse\u201d is being fundamentally altered. Our defence spending trajectory, our tech and AI alignments, our geopolitical identity: from NAFTA appendage to North Atlantic buffer state, are being quietly rewritten, and we are expected to be grateful for the upgrade.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love\u2011bombing with hockey and hope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Look at how this Finland visit has been packaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get hockey scrimmages, warm buddy\u2011cop shots on the ice, and upbeat clips about youth not losing hope in the future. We get soothing talk about \u201cpragmatism\u201d and \u201cvalues,\u201d and about Canada\u2019s admirable role as a multilateral middle power in a dangerous world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we don\u2019t get is a prime\u2011time, plain\u2011language explanation of what these agreements mean for our sovereignty, our budget, our ability to say no to future demands from NATO, Brussels, or future Stubb\u2011style interlocutors.
We certainly don\u2019t get any mechanism for saying: actually, we\u2019d like to have a say before<\/em> you sign us up for the new package deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In abusive dynamics, this is called love\u2011bombing: big gestures, gifts, and affirmations deployed right after unilateral decisions, to make the partner doubt their own discomfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Livestock or partner?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Carney\u2019s Canada project is being sold as inevitable modernization: a so-called necessary \u201crealignment\u201d of our political system and geopolitical posture for a harsher century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe that\u2019s the conversation we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we are not getting a conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are getting a reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The livestocking is in the sequencing: move the fences, then point to the new pasture and say we\u2019ve always belonged there. The controlling\u2011spouse dynamic is in the attitude: if you don\u2019t appreciate it, the problem is you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carney isn\u2019t asking Canadians whether they like the new d\u00e9cor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s telling them it\u2019s the best d\u00e9cor because\u00a0he<\/em>\u00a0picked it, and only backward people, the implication goes, would want their old furniture and their old pasture back, or heaven forbid, a different kind of haven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Carney’s duping delight seems to be tattooed on his face, but when you’re dealing with sheeple, that’s what happens: you mistake being a farmer with being a god. But you can see why the farmer is so smug. Canadians woke up this week to discover that the furniture has been rearranged. While we were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[521,49,59,21,448,331,51,26,42],"class_list":["post-2400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexandra-kitty","tag-brock-wilson","tag-canada","tag-cbc","tag-donald-trump","tag-eu","tag-european-union","tag-mark-carney","tag-propaganda","tag-united-states"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2402,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400\/revisions\/2402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}