BY JOAN BAXTER DECEMBER 18, 2025 Halifax Examiner
Article excerpt
Where’d the elbows go?
Some might argue Carney has no choice but to accept the New Trump Order of things. That he needs to keep his head low, and eliminate programs to protect people, the environment, and climate, in his efforts to defend Canada against Trump’s rampage. They might claim this explains why Carney is leaning so far to the right, and why Canadians need to keep cutting Carney more and more slack.
But there’s another possible explanation that bears consideration.
Is Carney using the pretext and cover Trump provides to weaken the very democratic institutions and protections he is claiming to defend from the despicable despot to the south, to serve the interests of big-money players in the powerful financial, tech, fossil fuel, extractive, and nuclear industries?
Canada’s environment and climate policies – as tentative as they were at the best of times – are in tatters. It’s starting to look as if Carney has decided Canada should follow Trump’s lead and join the race to the bottom by accelerating all the activities and strengthening all the systems that are harming the planet and humanity, posing existential risks.
That is not standing up to Trump. It’s caving to him.
Canadians believed Carney when he promised to take on Trump, protect them, and defend Canada, elbows up.
That seems a long time ago now.
