Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, takes part in a question and answer session with Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

As an illustration of Canada’s relative irrelevance on the world stage, I always liked the story about external affairs minister Lester Pearson’s visit to president Dwight Eisenhower, an avid golfer.

Pearson emerged from a meeting in disbelief that Ike hadn’t even heard of a pressing Canadian issue. “You’d think,” he muttered to an aide, “his caddie would have mentioned it to him.”

There have been moments when Canada popped up for a day or two on American news, but by and large we’ve been a marginal force. That changed with Mark Carney’s speech in Davos.

Read and watch Mark Carney's Davos speech at the World Economic Forum

Suddenly Canada the bit player is a major player. Suddenly the country repeatedly belittled by Donald Trump is emerging as a threat to him.

The Prime Minister is now seen as leading the resistance among middle powers of the world to American subjugation. He has articulated better than any other world leader why Mr. Trump’s abandonment of post-war multilateralism needs be countered.

The Carney speech is being celebrated in the American media, receiving........

© The Globe and Mail