Casual international observers would be forgiven for assuming Canada is in the comforting hands of a climate champ. After all, while climate policy rollbacks reign supreme in Donald Trump’s America, Canada is now led by a man who, while serving as governor of the Bank of England, delivered a celebrated 2015 speech, “Breaking the tragedy of the horizon”, warning the global investment community of the financial risks of climate change; who went on to serve as UN special envoy for climate action and finance; and whose 2022 book Value(s) had much to say about the “existential threat” of climate change. A man who recently dazzled the world with his Davos speech on how middle powers can stand up to global bullies.

Look, we get it. Next to the US president, Carney seems so debonair, thoughtful and calm – a lifeline of stability in a volatile new world.

Many within Canada were only recently of the same view. Indeed, only a little over a year ago, hundreds if not thousands of climate activists joined the Liberal party of Canada to help elect Carney as Justin Trudeau’s successor. Months later, hundreds of thousands of climate-concerned voters cast ballots in support of Carney as prime minister.

Sadly, however, a very different reality is coming into focus. As plank after plank of Canada’s climate strategy is dismantled, more and more of those climate-anxious voters are feeling a major case of buyer’s remorse, disoriented by the dissonance between who they thought they were supporting and a climate plan that is now a complete shambles.

Carney almost never talks about the climate crisis any more, contributing to the virtual disappearance of the topic from mainstream conversation, and reinforcing the sense of isolation harbored by the silent majority of climate-anxious people (a troubling........

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