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Raymond J. de Souza: Carney vs Poilievre becomes battle of the philosophers

The Conservative leader was forced to shift away from snark after Trudeau was replaced

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The early months of 2026 have witnessed a most welcome elevation in the quality of our political rhetoric. Prime Minister Mark Carney took the lead at Davos, quoting Thucydides and Vaclav Havel.

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Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre saw Carney’s Thucydides in Toronto and raised him a Marcus Aurelius; saw his Vaclav Havel and raised him an Adam Smith and Margaret Thatcher in London, and threw in a Konrad Adenauer in Berlin. In between, mirabile dictu, he had a long chinwag with Peter Mansbridge, the veritable incarnation of Canada’s elite, mainstream, legacy media, to use only the polite epithets heretofore hurled in that direction by the Conservatives.

Raymond J. de Souza: Carney vs Poilievre becomes battle of the philosophers Back to video

Mansbridge asked politely what exactly, in the name of defunding the CBC, was going on. Poilievre responded that while he had been focused on social media outreach for four years, he had now decided to “talk to everybody”.

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That is not only sound political strategy in a democracy, but has been very good for Poilievre the man and public figure. The more he escapes the debasing dynamics of social media, the more attractive a future prime minister he becomes, both in style and substance.

If the rapturous reception that Carney got at Davos provoked this change, then all the more reason to be grateful for the prime minister’s rhetorical turn there.

It should be noted, though, that this past week, in the immediate aftermath of the launch of the Israeli-American war against Iran, Canada’s government had some rhetorical stumbles. A clear initial statement by the prime minister was followed in subsequent days by a less direct statement, served alongside elaborate word salads from the foreign and defense ministers.

Back though to Poilievre. For those who have known him for decades, it was evident that the social media world he focused on — and mastered to an impressive degree — sold him short. Which is not a remarkable thing to note, given that social media by definition sells everyone short. That is why it is well-suited to small men, who have little of substance to offer.

Long before last year’s election, Poilievre had given substantive speeches unveiling his policies. As he has repeatedly observed, the policies were well received, as the Carney government has adopted many of them. Poilievre himself though was found off-putting by a goodly number of Canadians. His substance was presented in soundbites with plenty of snark and snarl.

Sneering had its place after 10 years of Justin Trudeau, who addressed Canadians with a self-righteous superiority, disdaining those who disagreed with him. He smirked more than smiled. He could be smarmy. So snark and snarl against smug self-absorption worked. Then came Carney, and he smiled, spoke in paragraphs and said serious things. Poilievre suffered by comparison, even amongst those who otherwise were attracted to his policies.

Poilievre shrunk himself to the small world of YouTube shorts. He did not travel abroad to give serious speeches, as is customary and entirely proper for a leader of the Opposition. Carney was sworn in as prime minister and lifted off immediately for Paris and London. Canadians are not put-off by their leaders being esteemed overseas. Poilievre denied himself the opportunity to be seen in that light.

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Until now. In London on Tuesday, Poilievre addressed a Thatcherite policy forum and outlined not only the policy, but the philosophy, of trade and economic freedom. He referred to both Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and his Theory of Moral Sentiments, pointing out that the former cannot be properly understood without the latter. It is entirely plausible that Poilievre wrote those lines himself, as was the case when Carney, on election night, delivered — at one o’clock in the morning! — a summary of the Aristotelian theory of virtue.

That Canada has two leaders capable of such is a rare privilege on the world stage today, where there is plenty of sound and fury. It was a week for Canadians to be proud of our leaders.

During his speech in London, Poilievre outlined his vision for a “CANZUK” partnership in trade, security and diplomacy — Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. On Thursday in Canberra, Carney addressed a joint session of the Australian parliament, with the two Commonwealth prime ministers lavishing laudations upon each other’s countries.

Excepting the “rupture” word which Poilievre rejects, he could have given Carney’s speech in Canberra, just as, with adaptions, Carney could have given much of Poilievre’s speech in London. To be sure, once Carney gets started on 18th-century philosophy and economics, he will tend to go on.

It is a common cultural complaint that things always get worse, and the realist entertains the possibility that still worse is yet to come. It is contrary to entropy that things that are bad could become less bad, even better.

Yet that is what has happened in Canada. The toxic entanglements of Trudeau and Poilievre in 2024 have given way to substantive exchanges between Carney and Poilievre in 2026, to the credit of both men.

Carney is prime minister now in part because of that, and should Poilievre become prime minister, he will be better for it.

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