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Michael Higgins: Carney meets the moment, backs Trump against Iran

Turns out that the old order has not yet ruptured

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Prime Minister Mark Carney was forced to admit an unpalatable truth Saturday, that despite his declaration that the old order had been irreparably ruptured it was still very much intact.

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Carney fully embraced that old order in a principled and pragmatic statement in which he fully endorsed the United States action against Iran. His comments were as refreshing as they were welcome because, when it comes to foreign policy, it has been a decade since a Canadian prime minister was as level-headed and clear-eyed.

Michael Higgins: Carney meets the moment, backs Trump against Iran Back to video

Carney’s statement came only hours after the U.S. and Israel began firing missiles at targets across Iran and President Donald Trump urged the Iranian people to rise up saying, “The hour for your freedom is at hand.”

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Iran responded by attacking American and Israeli targets in the region.

In his statement, Carney wasted no time in apportioning blame. “Canada’s position remains clear: the Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East, has one of the world’s worst human rights records, and must never be allowed to obtain or develop nuclear weapons,” he said.

“Despite diplomatic efforts, Iran has neither fully dismantled its nuclear program, halted all enrichment activities, nor ended its support for regional terrorist proxy groups. Canada stands with the Iranian people in their long and courageous struggle against Iran’s oppressive regime.”

Carney then went on to say Canada had listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity and sanctioned 256 Iranian entities and 222 individuals. But it must be remembered that his Liberal predecessor, Justin Trudeau, inexplicably fought long and hard against listing the IRGC as a terrorist body.

Trudeau resisted listing the IRGC even after it shot down Flight PS752 in January 2020, killing 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents. It was only in 2022 that the Liberals shifted position, recognizing an uprising of the people in Iran and perhaps sensing a political blowback in Canada.

Carney says Canada supports U.S. Iran attacks, but doesn't envision combat role

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Carney seems to have a clearer sense of the danger posed to the world order by the Iranian regime.

The prime minister was also forthright in supporting our allies: “Canada reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself and to ensure the security of its people. Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security.”

Where this conflict goes, when it ends, and how it will play out are all mysteries for the future, but Carney is to be congratulated on giving Canada’s full-throated support for military action against Iran. It will not sit well with some Liberals.

The prime minister reiterated his statement to a group of businessmen in Mumbai, where he is on a four-day economic trade mission.

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After repeating his statement, the prime minister launched into a speech which was reminiscent — and included some of the same phrases — as his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

It was at Davos, and again in Mumbai, that the prime minister spoke of a rupture in the world order. But in light of Iran, and the prime minister’s new statement, the premises he put forward at Davos seem outdated, or simply not true.

The prime minister in Mumbai and Davos spoke about “how our comfortable assumptions” regarding our geographic alliances conferring security were no longer valid. But they appear to be very much valid. Carney, as his statement on Iran attests, is now very comfortable supporting the U.S. action to prevent the Iranian regime “further threatening international peace and security.”

Our geographic allies are still very much our allies.

In Mumbai, the prime minister said Canada’s new strategy in the world must be principled, pragmatic and realistic “in a more dangerous and divided world.” His endorsement of the U.S. and Israeli action against the world’s leading exponent of terrorism may be a case of such a strategy in action.

As Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said this week, it was premature of Carney to declare at Davos a “permanent rupture from our biggest customer and closest neighbour.”

Wars tend to remind people about who are their best allies, their truest friends and their reliable partners. Contrary to speeches at Davos, the old order isn’t dead yet.

Or to quote British humourist P.G. Wodehouse, writing on the sad demise of the hunter A.B. Spottsworth, “He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought he wasn’t.”

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