Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England and now Canadian prime minister, was the toast of Davos last week for a speech that seemed to perfectly capture the moment with its talk of a “permanent rupture” and its supposed master plan for responding to the “Trumpquake” in global affairs.
But how realistic was his vision of a coalition of “middle powers” – by which he seemed to mean mainly Canada, Europe, the UK and Japan – to keep the torch of the old liberal order burning bright?
"PM Carney’s Davos speech may go down in history as one of the most poorly interpreted by Canadians. Many central bankers openly disagreed with both the language and the message, but the backlash barely surfaced in Canadian media. Meanwhile, the speech has clearly made many… pic.twitter.com/krCyHwtxx3
— The Food Professor (@FoodProfessor) January 27, 2026
