01
Foreign Policy — Strait of Hormuz
Flip-Flop on Record
"We Will Not Be Engaged."
Then He Signed the Statement.
In twelve days, Carney went from "we are not engaged and will not be engaged" to co-signing a joint statement volunteering to contribute forces to the Strait of Hormuz. He joined the statement after his allies had already released it.
He Said — March 12
"We are not engaged in these actions of the U.S. and Israel, we're not engaged in offensive actions, and we will not be engaged in those actions."
Carney — Yellowknife press conference
He Said — March 12 (Same Day)
He would not "categorically" rule out Canada's participation in an escalating Middle East conflict.
Carney — same week, same conflict
Then He Did — March 19
Canada co-signed a joint statement with the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Japan expressing "readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait."
PMO Joint Statement, March 19, 2026
The Strait of Hormuz is the chokepoint through which one-fifth of the world's oil and gas transits. Iran has been limiting traffic and bombing shipping sites since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran. Canada's allies — the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan — had already released this statement. Carney's team asked to be added after the fact.
Conservative MP Shuv Majumdar — March 19, 2026
"He casts himself as a ringleader for middle powers. Instead, objectively, he's flip-flopping his way through a major crisis. Our allies acted, then Carney's Liberals begged to be read in after the fact. It's like he has no idea what he's doing."
— MP Majumdar, on Carney joining the Hormuz statement after allies had already released it
Defence Minister David McGuinty said at a press conference the same day that Canada "has no intention" of joining the Iran war and was "not consulted" by the U.S. or Israel before the strikes began. He did not rule out Canadian military involvement if neighbouring states requested NATO assistance. The statement does not specify what "appropriate efforts" means. It leaves the door open.
What "Appropriate Efforts" Could Mean
Canada has an operational support hub at Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait — the same base struck by an Iranian missile on March 1, which Carney's government hid from Canadians for 12 days. Canada is already in the region. The Hormuz statement commits to "preparatory planning." The statement does not define a ceiling on involvement.
Recall: on March 1, Carney issued a statement supporting Israel's right to self-defence. Three days later in Australia, he called the strikes a consequence of the "failure of the international order" — said with "regret." On March 10, his government held an emergency parliamentary debate on the Iran conflict but did not mention the missile strike on Camp Canada. On March 12, he said Canada would not be engaged. On March 19, he signed the Hormuz commitment. Five positions in nineteen days.
02
Climate — The Net Zero Reversal
Broken Promise — On the Record
He Built the Global Net-Zero Machine.
Now He's Quietly Taking It Apart.
For a decade, Mark Carney was the world's most prominent architect of net-zero financial policy. As Prime Minister, he has repealed the consumer carbon tax, scrapped clean electricity regulations, and watched his flagship global alliance shut down. The man and the mission are no longer the same.
Carney was not merely a supporter of the global net-zero movement — he was its chief engineer. As Governor of the Bank of England and then as UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, he built the institutional architecture that was supposed to redirect trillions of dollars in capital away from fossil fuels. He founded the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) in 2021, which at its peak committed over 140 banks and $130 trillion in assets to net-zero targets. He said at the time that the world had "the essential plumbing in place" to make every financial decision climate-aware.
Here is what that record looks like now:
2021
Carney Founds GFANZ — $130 Trillion Commitment
Launches the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero at COP26. 140+ banks globally commit to net-zero by 2050. Carney calls it "the essential plumbing" for climate finance.
Built It
2025
Jan
All Major Canadian and U.S. Banks Exit the Alliance
BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD follow the six largest U.S. banks out of NZBA. Carney simultaneously announces his run for Liberal leader.
Collapsed
2025
Oct
GFANZ Votes to Formally Shut Down
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance votes to end its membership structure. Carney is now Prime Minister. His flagship climate initiative is now an archive.
Shut Down
2025–
2026
As PM: Carbon Tax Repealed, Clean Electricity Rules Scrapped
Carney repeals the consumer carbon tax and the Clean Electricity Regulations — two of the signature Trudeau-era climate policies. Canada is no longer on track to meet any of its climate targets, per the Canadian Climate Institute.
Reversed
2026
Jan
Davos: "It Is Time to Take Your Signs Down"
At the World Economic Forum, Carney tells global leaders the old rules-based order "is not coming back" and that leaders must stop "participating in the rituals" and "avoiding calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality."
Walks Away
2026
Mar
Signs 50 Million Tonne LNG Deal With India
Commits Canada to tripling LNG exports to India by 2030, fast-tracking two natural gas projects — directly through Brookfield-owned pipelines. Canada's own Institute says the country is "not on track" for any climate target.
Contradicts It
Carney — World Economic Forum, Davos — January 2026
"Friends, it is time for companies and countries to take their signs down."
— PM Mark Carney, the man who put up the signs, telling the world to take them down
This is the same person who said in 2021 that climate change is an "existential threat" and that the financial sector "will not wait until 2030 to adjust." The same person who built OSFI Rule B-15 to force Canadian banks to stress-test their climate risk. The same person who said that companies still financing fossil fuels were subject to a "Managed Phaseout." He did not change his mind quietly. He was the loudest voice in the room — and now he is the Prime Minister dismantling the room.
03
Civil Liberties — Bill C-22
New Legislation — March 12, 2026
The Government That Hid a Missile Strike
Now Wants New Powers to Watch You Online.
Bill C-22 gives police new tools to track Canadians online — including mandatory surveillance infrastructure built into telecom networks. The government says it's about criminals. Privacy experts say once the backdoor is built, anyone can walk through it.
On March 12 — the same day the Kuwait airbase cover-up broke — the Carney government introduced Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, 2026. The bill expands police powers to access Canadians' online data, requires telecom companies to build surveillance capabilities into their networks, and lowers the evidentiary standard needed to obtain subscriber information from a court.
The government tabled an earlier version — Bill C-2 — buried inside a massive border security omnibus bill. That version faced an immediate backlash for allowing warrantless access to personal data from virtually any service provider in Canada, including physicians and lawyers. Conservatives blocked it. C-22 is the reworked version. But experts say the problems did not disappear — they were restructured.
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Still Contains Warrantless Powers
Police can demand telecoms confirm whether they provide service to a specific person — no warrant required. The government calls this a "confirmation of service demand." Privacy advocates say it is still warrantless access to personal data.
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Lowers the Legal Threshold
To get a court order for your subscriber information — name, address, IP address — police previously needed "reasonable grounds to believe" a crime occurred. C-22 lowers that to "reasonable grounds to suspect." That is the lowest standard in Canadian criminal law. Access to your identity just became easier to obtain.
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Forces Telecoms to Build Surveillance Infrastructure
C-22 requires "core providers" — Bell, Rogers, and others — to build and maintain technical surveillance capabilities inside their networks, including location-tracking for suspected terrorists. Once that infrastructure exists, it is there permanently — regardless of who is in government.
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Mandatory Metadata Retention — One Year
Buried in the bill: the government can require telecoms to retain metadata on all users' communications for up to one year — whether or not those users are suspected of anything. That means your communications data is stored, and available, even if you have done nothing wrong.
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Applies to Google, Meta, and OpenAI
The bill opens a route for Canadian police to seek court authority to request subscriber or transmission data from foreign firms. The government says it cannot compel them to comply. But the legal framework is now in place.
Tamir Israel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association
"Companies could be forced to re-engineer their services to build surveillance tools into them. This creates not just significant privacy concerns, but also cybersecurity concerns. Once that backdoor is built, anyone could walk through it."
— Director, Privacy, Surveillance and Technology Program, CCLA
The government's position is that this targets criminals — not ordinary Canadians. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said it is "not about surveillance of Canadians going on about their daily lives." Justice Minister Sean Fraser said he is confident it will pass constitutional scrutiny, noting the Supreme Court has twice found earlier lawful access regimes unconstitutional.
The context matters. This bill is introduced by the same government that hid a missile strike on a Canadian military base for 12 days. The same government whose Brookfield ethics screen covers only 5% of the relevant companies. The same government that called an emergency debate on a war without telling MPs Canada's own base had been hit. A government that believes transparency flows in one direction — toward itself, not toward you — now wants more tools to look at your data.
This Week's Verdict
Three stories. One pattern. A government that flip-flops on war, then quietly joins the military commitment after allies move first. A Prime Minister who built the global net-zero machine, then walked away from it without ever telling Canadians that the man they elected and the mission he sold them are no longer the same thing. And a surveillance bill introduced by a government that cannot be trusted to be transparent about a missile strike — but now wants new tools to be less transparent with you, while being more transparent about you.
This is the record. It belongs to Canadians. Pass it on.