Blazingcatfur

OTTAWA — Right before Quebec vigorously defended its law promoting state neutrality and secularism in public services, Prime Minister Mark Carney stood at a national prayer breakfast and declared religious values can and should frame how politicians act.

Carney’s display of his Catholic faith Tuesday stood in stark contrast with a heated debate about the value of state secularism that played out an hour later at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Where Carney quoted from the Gospel of Matthew and from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount to talk about the grace and generosity that politicians should channel, Quebec’s lawyers argued religious beliefs should not be on display by public officials, saying the state should be neutral, and public services delivered without signs of any religious belief.

Carney a Christian? Please.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand delivered a clear message at the Chatham House Global Trade Conference in London last week: “This is (Canada’s) moment to lead.” The only question is: who exactly is following?

Anand’s speech was billed as a means to “underscore Canada’s trade diversification efforts to strengthen economic security and resilience.” But it more closely resembled a marketing campaign to hype the speech Prime Minister Mark Carney gave at the World Economic Forum in January.