HALIFAX—Prime Minister Mark Carney is proving that politics at its most important is a big-picture game.

Which is to say, it isn’t only about the price of gas, the cost of housing, and the dozens of other kitchen-table issues that normally dominate the public debate.

The PM’s words in recent speeches have shown that deeper philosophical issues are also an indispensable part of the national conversation—or should be. There is today’s reality to be sure, but there are also all those tomorrow’s.

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In an informal conversation with Canadians around Canada Day, Carney spoke frankly about some very big ideas normally left to erudite professors or pundits with an academic bent.

In keeping with his promise not to sugar-coat his message, the PM bluntly told Canadians that Canada must change in response to a changing world order.

His words conjured up Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous poem Morte d’Arthur, particularly the line “the old order changeth, yielding place to new.”

Without getting into personalities, Carney made clear that Canada must somehow replace its super dependence on a mercurial United States. Why? Because recent events have proven that Canada can no longer depend on the U.S. as a steadfast and reliable partner.

The rise of U.S. President Donald Trump should have provided the ultimate wakeup call to all Canadian politicians, as it clearly has with the PM.

Trump has demonstrated that the Canada-U.S. relationship is one bad president away from disaster.

Trump........

© The Hill Times