Prime Minister Mark Carney’s video speech to Canadians on the weekend carried an ominous undertone of possible conflict with the U.S.
“It’s about taking back control of our security, our borders and our future,” he said, referring to his Canada Strong program.
On his desk was a little statue — a figurine, really — of General Isaac Brock, often hailed as the savour of Upper Canada in the War of 1812.
Comedian and film star Mike Meyers gave him the tiny figure, the PM said.
That added a jokey tone, but Carney was clearly hinting that we should be concerned about more than tariffs from our southern neighbors.
“Brock was a hero who fought and gave his life for our forebears in the War of 1812,” he said.
“Before Canada even existed on paper, it had a shape in Brock’s imagination.
“Faced with the threat of an American invasion, Brock built alliances across our land and inspired what would eventually become Canada.
“This statue, General Brock, that I see every morning in the prime minister’s office reminds me that when we’re united as Canadians, we can withstand anything.”
Carney covered a lot of ground, talking about Canada’s role in the world, the many alliances he’s building, and the need to knock down internal trade barriers.
But he kept coming back to the military.
“We’re defending Canadian sovereignty by investing in our security and creating an industry to support it.
“We’ve embarked on an ambitious new mission to rebuild, rearm and reinvest in the Canadian Armed Forces, with the single largest increase in defense investment in generations as a result.
“Recruitment to serve our country is already up thirteen per cent.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the 2026 Liberal National Convention in Montreal Saturday, April 11, 2026.
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The Americans goaded us for years to bring military spending up two per cent of GDP, the NATO standard. They complained, with good reason, that we rode their military coattails.
Now Carney says Canada has hit that two per cent target. The reason is what the Americans have become, not what they said before.
Carney added: “We’re just getting started. Our defense strategy will catalyze $500 billion in investment in Canada over the next decade.”
The few Canadians old enough to remember the wartime rhetoric of 1939 might find Carney’s words familiar. His plan to transform the economy is almost as dramatic as the retooling done then, by dire necessity.
David Bercuson, U of C scholar and author of dozens of books and papers, mostly on the military, favors serious expansion of Canada’s military.
But he’s dubious about Carney saying the U.S relationship can never be repaired when we’ve been friendly and economically linked since the 1800s.
“They elected an idiot down there,” he said. “We all know that.”
But he says Canada’s biggest friends are major export groups and economic sectors.
“It’s just Liberal b.s.” to say we can never rebuild the relationship, Bercuson added.
Carney’s whole pitch is based on the belief that we can’t afford to bet on future harmony.
“We’ve begun to make big structural changes in the Canadian economy, and they’re all designed to make us stronger at home and less reliant on the United States,” he said.
“Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses, weaknesses that we must correct.
“There are some who say there’s no need for a comprehensive plan. They believe we should wait it out in the hope that the United States will return to normal, that the good old days will come back. But hope isn’t a plan, and nostalgia is not a strategy.”
Truly, it would be criminally careless for a Canadian prime minister to ignore President Donald Trump’s constant allusions to making us the 51st state with the Prime Minister as local governor.
Trump has no use for NATO and might leave it. He despises Europe. He starts a war without telling allies and insults them when they won’t help.
All that calls for serious attention.
Carney’s plan is hugely ambitious. He will run into opposition.
But if he pulls it off, Canada will finally have the strength and international standing this vast land deserves.
And yes, that means being ready to fight.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
X and Bluesky: @DonBraid