POLCZER: Carney’s Green idealism collides with Western — and Canadian — economic realities

That didn’t take long. 

Just 24 hours after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s election victory, the contradiction at the heart of his political and economic agenda came crashing into view.

That’s because Canada’s largest bank, RBC, quietly announced it is abandoning its signature $500 billion sustainable finance commitment — one of the very pledges Carney championed as head of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). 

The bank cited changes to the Competition Act, dubbed the “greenwashing law,” that now require companies to back up environmental claims with hard evidence. 

In other words, the numbers didn’t add up.

The irony is rich.

Carney built a global career urging banks to finance the green transition. Now, with Canada’s banks — including RBC — dropping out of GFANZ, the very framework he helped create is in disarray. 

His credibility as a climate finance leader is under pressure at the exact moment he assumes political leadership in a country grappling with an economic identity crisis.

In his acceptance speech Monday night, Carney declared that Canada’s old economic model built on easy access to US markets was “over.” 

With Washington’s turn toward protectionism and a trade war escalating by the day, that statement was more than rhetorical. It was a warning.

Canada must now chart its own economic course. And for that, there is no stronger foundation than the energy sector — centred in the West and still the engine of national prosperity. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has already made clear what that path must include: scrapping emissions caps, ending the green policy pile-on, fast-tracking permits and restoring investor confidence. 

Her government is armed with a mandate and nine formal demands. She’s also promised to hold a referendum on separation if Ottawa continues to ignore the West.

Carney campaigned on energy corridors and pipeline expansions. He said all forms of energy —including oil and gas — must have a future in Canada. 

That’s good, because Canada’s energy sector isn’t just asking for permission to grow. It’s demanding action to reclaim lost ground after years of federal neglect.

For more than a decade, misguided climate policy, burdensome regulations and the layering of costly federal mandates have choked investment and driven capital south of the border. The US is now simplifying its energy permitting process while Canada continues to drown in red tape.

In what Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre rightly called the ‘Lost Liberal Decade’ we’ve seen capital flee, projects stall and regulatory delays pile up while Justin Trudeau vainly courted global applause. 

The result? Billions in lost opportunity, thousands of jobs forgone, and a growing sense of alienation in the very provinces that power the national economy.

Now the banker who once led the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) is Canada’s Prime Minister

But even he more than anyone ought to realize the collapse of GFANZ among Canadian banks underscores a simple truth: climate finance sounds great in theory but doesn’t stand up to real-world scrutiny.

RBC’s decision to withhold emissions financing ratios and low-carbon investment metrics is a signal that ambition has outpaced accountability.

The West has always dealt in reality. And right now, the reality is that the world still runs on oil and gas. 

That won’t change overnight, no matter how many glossy reports or international alliances say otherwise. Investment in responsible Canadian energy — developed under the highest environmental and social standards — must not only be permitted, it must be championed.

And as PM, Carney needs to say it in no unequivocal terms. And that includes in Quebec.

Carney is no longer the head of a multilateral finance alliance. He’s the Prime Minister of Canada. And the future of this country will depend on whether he can reconcile his environmental ideals with the economic strength of the West.

Because while the banks may be quietly backing away from fantasy, the West is demanding bold action rooted in fact.

The question now is: which Mark Carney showed up to lead Canada — the global climate envoy, or the national economic realist?

The country can’t afford for him to be both.