Gina Pappano is the executive director of InvestNow.There’s an old, satirical saying that goes, ‘The king can do no wrong. He can only be led astray by his counsellors.’ Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Prime Minister Mark Carney can do no wrong on his own, but I think his counsellors are giving him particularly bad advice right now.I say that because Carney’s much-heralded speech in Davos, as well as his recent headline-making trips to China and Qatar, bear the fingerprints of our echo-chambered elite.On January 5, just before Carney’s trip to China was announced, the prominent political risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group released its annual global outlook projection, Top Risks 2026. Eurasia Group boasts former Trudeau chief advisor Gerald Butts as Vice Chairman, and Diana Fox Carney, wife of the prime minister, as a senior climate policy advisor.They are very well connected, and their opinions are highly regarded by Canada’s decision-makers.In this new report, they proclaimed that the number one risk for the world was “U.S. political revolution,” and they challenged Canada to manage “an unpredictable and unreliable U.S.,” while strengthening our role in the wider world. They heavily suggested that Ottawa should do everything it can to distance us from the United States.Once again, this report means something to our governing class. Three days after the release of Top Risks, Canada’s largest bank, RBC, announced a multi-year strategic partnership with the Eurasia Group, the goal of which is to “Reset the conversation on the US-Canada Relationship” ahead of the upcoming CUSMA review. If their Top Risks report is anything to go by, the “reset” Eurasia and our biggest bank are likely to advocate for will be negative.As the report was making waves, Mark Carney flew to Beijing to negotiate and announce a new "strategic partnership” with China, a country he had previously described as our “biggest security threat.”.The deal included cutting our tariff on their Electric Vehicles (enabling them to take advantage of our EV mandate, while hanging our automotive sector out to dry) in exchange for their shaky commitment to begin lowering their duty on our canola seed. He also announced increased cooperation between law enforcement in both countries (ominous), as well as coordination on clean energy (never mind that China’s lead in so-called Clean Tech is powered by coal), and "people-to-people exchanges" between our nations.Carney followed that up with a trip to Qatar, and another “strategic partnership” announcement.At no time on either of these trips did he mention the significant human rights concerns with either of these countries. China has even been accused of using forced labour to assemble the Electric Vehicles we will soon be importing. No mention, either, of his potential conflicts of interest, related to Brookfield Asset Management’s work in both countries.All that matters, apparently, is that they are not America.Carney capped off his global jaunt with a stop at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In his Davos address, which is being hailed as “historic” by Canadian opinion-makers, Carney delivered the speech that our globe-trotting elites wanted to hear. In it, Carney described a new world order and claimed that Canada can be a strong “middle power,” holding off the hegemonic United States through alliances with the nations of Europe and Asia.The subtext of the speech was clear: the political revolution in America can be managed … as long as we’re willing to do business with human rights abusers. We don’t need to deal with American unreliability anymore! So long as we’re willing to accept China’s unreliability..Carney’s speech, and his trip more generally, have drawn rave reviews. He’s being praised for his ‘clear-eyed realism’ about Canada’s place in the world today. But, honestly, this wasn’t realism. He was flattering the sensibilities of the Davos crowd, who have never been fond of the United States and have a particular loathing for Donald Trump.True realism would have consisted in acknowledging that the United States is our largest trading partner (75% of Canada’s exports) and investor (half a trillion dollars), as well as our neighbour.Deepening our entanglement with Communist China isn’t going to change that. And antagonizing the US in the lead-up to the renegotiation of the CUSMA is very much not in Canada’s interest.Mark Carney should know that. As should our banking and business communities. Anyone else who is telling them otherwise should be looked at with the utmost suspicion.Contrary to the headlines, if Carney really wanted to put Canada first, he would begin by repealing prosperity-stifling laws and regulations, pushing real investment in our oil and gas sector, focusing on becoming an energy superpower, building infrastructure — pipelines especially — and get to work reindustrialising our country. That would go a long way towards rejuvenating our economy and addressing the national unity crisis, which his Liberal government isn’t taking at all seriously.Delivering a speech in front of an audience at Davos is very different from actually doing the hard work to return to Canadian prosperity. Here’s hoping Carney and his government are open to some good advice and are willing to roll up their sleeves to turn the advice into action.Gina Pappano is the executive director of InvestNow. Prior to starting InvestNow, she was the head of market intelligence at Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) for fifteen years.
