Carney ’s embrace of middle power status sends us ‘back to the future’

Hopefully, the prime minister’s description of the world is flawed, and we will again reap the benefits of global multilateral co-operation. Otherwise, we may be re-living the 1930s.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s emphasis on middle powers in his Jan. 20 World Economic Forum address would be familiar to anyone studying foreign policy in Canada in the 1960s and ’70s, writes Andrew Caddell. Photograph courtesy of World Economic Forum/Ciaran McCrickard

Opinion

BY ANDREW CADDELL

February 4, 2026

KAMOURASKA, QUE.—Like most students of foreign policy, I have always believed in multilateral co-operation. Not as a philosophy of “multilateralism,” but because for decades Canada has been able to punch above its weight by seeking out like-minded partners in internati...

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