It was a good speech. Even a great speech. Poke around online, and you’ll find people reaching for descriptions like “Churchillian” about the PM’s address in Davos. “The most important speech in Canadian history up to this point,” declared Max Fawcett in these pages. But, for all its clarity about the behaviour of the world’s great powers, it dodged one notable issue that the great powers did not shy away from themselves.

That’s not meant to sound churlish about a head of government who thoughtfully invoked both Thucydides and Václav Havel. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address felt like a bluebird day compared to the focus-grouped pablum and three-syllable sloganeering of modern political “communications.” And it was a radical contrast to the weaving, menacing ramble from President Trump later in the program.

But it was definitely notable that he avoided any mention of climate change, apart from a sotto voce reference to “COP” and a line towards the end that “Canadians remain committed to sustainability.” Both China and the US were much more direct, in wildly different ways.

The dodge probably wasn’t terribly notable to Canadians who have heard near-nothing on the topic since Carney took office. But the absence was more jarring to those around the world who remember Carney for his bombshell speech on the risks of climate change as governor of the Bank of England and for his tenure as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance.

“Mark Carney’s Davos speech is indeed honest and thoughtful,” wrote Åsa Persson, chair of Sweden’s Climate Policy Council (a country that has been navigating great power rivalries for a very long time). “But where is the perspective of a planet that we all share and depend upon, being degraded........

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