In the wake of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s widely-covered on-stage appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Dimension contributor Muneeb Javaid — who, according to his bio, is a “development coordinator” at Canadians for Tax Fairness — acknowledges that the two-time former central banker “is right that the old order bit coming back, that sovereignty matters and that Canada and its partners cannot rely on geography or historic alliances to guarantee security or prosperity.”

Carney’s remarks, however, “fall short in their insistence on answering the crises of our time through the lens of neoliberalism—an ideology that has, for decades, hollowed out the very sovereignty he now claims to defend,” he contends.

“In other words, Carney diagnoses a rupture in the global order while leaving intact the economic framework that helped produce it. Neoliberalism is not guided by sovereign states exercising democratic control, but by the steady transfer of power to non-state actors: multinational corporations and the ultra-wealthy.”

This, he says, “is the critical point at which Carney’s Davos speech diverges from a comprehensive view of reality,” and why “his intervention … is better understood as a critique of liberal international relations — the belief that norms, institutions, and shared rules can restrain hard power — than as a break with neoliberal political economy.”

If “Canada and its allies” truly want to “e-establish power, defend sovereignty, (and) strengthen democratic values,” they “must do more than challenge the American state,” he argues.

“We must also confront the influence of US corporate power, the ultra-wealthy, and the ideology that continues to serve their interests.”

As he sees it, “the danger is not that neoliberalism is ending, but that it is being replaced by something harsher: a world of militarized competition, eco-fascism, and technocratic management of permanent crisis.”

Elsewhere on the site, Winnipeg-based writer Alex Passey pens a thoughtful critique of Canada’s labour movement — and, more specifically, unions that “have become sluggish and scared when we need them to be decisive and fearless,” using his own experience to make his case.

“I have worked as a letter carrier at Canada Post for eight years,” he notes.

“It’s the only union job I’ve ever had, and I have had plenty of jobs. Gas jockey. Dishwasher. Telemarketer. Burger flipper. You name a low-paying, thankless career and I have probably worked it. So, I am acutely aware, and thankful for, the reasonably good pay, job security and work conditions which I have enjoyed thanks to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.”

That, he says, “is why it is so disheartening to see the current state of the labour movement, where government, corporations, and to some extent even the unions themselves, are committed to a neoliberal philosophy which increasingly diminishes the ability of workers to stand up to the powers that be.”

As he explains, his “disillusionment about the state of the labour movement began with (his) own union,” which “had an opportunity to do something historic” during its standoff with Canada Post in December 2024.

“When it was clear the corporation would not budge on their demands, union membership overwhelmingly voted to strike. For several weeks on the picket line we made our stand, buttressed by a good deal of public support. Morale amongst the picketers was strong despite the oncoming deepfreeze of a Canadian winter. Everything was as it should be when a group of workers decide to stand firm against deteriorating working conditions.”

And yet, when the federal government — or, as he puts it, the “Trudeau Liberals” — brought in back-to-work legislation, it “broke the strike’s momentum, diminishing public support and erasing the union’s leverage,” he notes.

“It didn’t have to be that way. Union members were ready to defy the back-to-work order and decried it as an unconstitutional subversion of our right to bargain with our employer. Many voices called for CUPW to stay on the picket line and show that our right to negotiate a fair contract on our own terms was not to be compromised by the whims of the government. Instead, CUPW meekly followed the back-to-work order, tacitly accepting that we can only conduct collective bargaining at the convenience and under the conditions of the very institutional powers we are bargaining against.”

A similar scenario unfolded the following year when Air Canada flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) not only walked out, but “defined the back-to-work order” handed down by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board, he points out.

“For a couple of days it was an inspiring scene. Union leaders boldly declared that not only were they undeterred by any fines which might be imposed upon them, they were even willing to go to jail if need be. It did not take long, however, for the heroic words of CUPE leadership to be shown as largely performative.”

In his view, both unions “failed their memberships, and it is clear they did so out of fear for treading against the institution they were principally founded to oppose,” which is why “it’s time for them to remember their roots,” he warns.

“Unions were founded as a way for labour to stand up to the institutions that exploit them. But if they reject the subversive tactics of the past then they are in danger of becoming yet another appendage of those same oppressive institutions.”

Over at Rabble, Karl Nerenberg explains how — and why — Quebec Premier François Legault’s decision to step down as party leader “could usher in a separatist government” — and, ultimately, “another referendum,” courtesy of Paul St. Pierre Plamondon’s Parti Québécois, which is currently leading in the polls.

“Pallas has them at 34 per cent,” he notes.

“Other recent polls are in the same ballpark, in the low 30s. Usually, that level of popular support would result in a minority government. But in the current splintered political environment of Quebec the PQ could easily win a majority of seats with only around a third of the vote” due to strong support amongst Francophones.

“A keystone of Plamondon’s 2020 victory was his firm pledge to hold a referendum on independence in the first term of a PQ government,” he points out.

“And there lies the rub. This is a particularly bad time for this country, Canada, to show any signs of division and disunity.

The U.S.’s openly imperialist president evinces scant interest in events and personalities of foreign countries and territories, even those he wants to take over. Indeed, when asked about the Greenland prime minister’s opposition to annexation by the U.S., Trump was not embarrassed to admit ‘I don’t know who that is’. Donald Trump has certainly not heard of Paul St.-Pierre Plamondon, not yet at any rate.  But if Plamondon were to become Quebec premier in 2026 and then fire up plans for his province to separate from Canada, some ambitious advisor will make sure the U.S. president knows all about it.”

Meanwhile, as the race to lead the federal New Democrats heads into its final lap, Nick Seeburch flags two “major” endorsements from “significant names” — namely, former MP Charlie Angus, who came out in support of his erstwhile caucus colleague, Heather McPherson, and current MP Leah Gazan, who announced that she would be backing Avi Lewis.

“Angus said that while he respected all of the candidates and had friends on all of the campaign teams, he recognized that the party was in dire straits after losing official party status at the last election and argued that now was the time for someone with a proven track record,” adding that it was “not an entry level position,” Seeburch reports.

”I’m sorry, but that’s not an entry level position,” he said of the challenge facing the party’s next leader.

For her part, Gazan said the party needs “someone who can rebuild our party,” and “can offer hope in tough times,” which is why  she supports Lewis.

“Gazan had clashed previously with McPherson after the latter launched her leadership campaign with a promise to end so-called “purity tests” within the party,” Seeburch notes.

In a post on his personal substack, prolific progressive-left writer Christo Aivalis also declared his support for Lewis, who “is best poised to improve the NDP’s standing, challenge corporate power in Canada, and build a socialist vision to fight back against Trump’s assault on our country,” he argued.

Also keeping tabs on the New Democrats: The Breach’s Desmond Cole, who chatted with former New Democrat MP Matthew Green about his “campaign to renew the NDP, and what it will take to pry control from consultants, and put it in the hands of the grassroots.”

Rounding out the roster, The Maple’s Adam D.K. King warns that the “mass deportations” underway as a result of Trump’s “xenophobia” will “harm all workers, regardless of their birth place.”

Trending on the right-of-centre side of the Canadian activist mediaverse:

• Rebel News commander Ezra Levant and his team patrolled the perimeter of the WEF meeting in Davos in pursuit of the “secretive club of oligarchs, politicians, bankers, tech bosses and their media friends — the ‘masters of the universe’ who rule over the rest of us.”
• Among their targets: former prime minister Justin Trudeau, “one of the most hated men in Canada,” who was “out for a leisurely stroll because he assumed he was among friends,” but instead wound up fending off questions from Levant “about everything from Alberta independence, to China, to his obsession with censorship,” as well as “who paid for his travel to Davos.”
• The roving Rebels also caught up with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who “exploded” when Levant and Rebel correspondent Avi Yemini “questioned him about Silicon Valley’s censorship machine.”
• As for what was going down on the other side of the security cordons, Juno News contributor Keean Bexte sums up Carney’s speech as “insane,” but conceded that it “sounded smart.”