Mark Carney rode anti-Trump rhetoric to power, only to cave to corporate interests, adopt MAGA-lite policies, and betray the very voters who put him in office, writes Christo Aivalis. Photo courtesy Mark Carney/Facebook.

Mark Carney exploded onto the scene in Canadian politics with two clear sales pitches—one for voters, and one for the capitalist class.

To the public, he presented himself as a pragmatic progressive, a man of values who wrote books and spoke of steady leadership. He promised to rescue Canadians from the clutches of Donald Trump and his “Conservative buddies in Canada” like Pierre Poilievre. The pitch worked. It propelled Carney to an improbable and historic comeback victory.

But that wasn’t the version of Carney sold in boardrooms across Canada and the United States. His real plan was to be Pierre Poilievre—without the drama. To build alliances with Trump and Netanyahu abroad while failing the working class at home. That’s the agenda that has prevailed so far, leading him into conflict with many of the voters who put him in office.

At first, many held out hope that despite the NDP’s heavy seat losses, their ability to retain the balance of power would push Carney to collaborate with them on progressive legislation. The opposite happened. Carney made it clear, immediately after the election, that he had little to offer the NDP, despite their support. He instead advanced a Throne Speech that veered sharply to the right. The result? While the NDP caucus opposed it, the speech united the Liberal and Conservative parties in a shared rejection of progressive values.

This pattern carried over into early government legislation, including Bill C-5, which Carney marketed as a plan to “get Canada building again.” But the bill has faced fierce opposition from an alliance of the NDP and Indigenous groups. The Chiefs of Ontario, for example,

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