Nostalgia is not a strategy: Carney's top quotes from WEF 2026 speech

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stressed that the great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, and financial infrastructure as coercion

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday gave the world a wake-up call, referring to the recent geopolitical events as a 'turning point'. He noted that the old world order is gone, and instead of mourning it, one should focus on building a better world from the current disruption.

 

Speaking at the World Economic Forum 2026 Annual Meeting, he stated that in a world where the great powers are bending laws and the international organisations have failed, the middle powers have been offered a choice: compete with each other for favour or combine to create a third path with impact. "Middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu," he said.

 

 

Here are the top five comments from PM Carney's speech.

1. 'We're in a rupture, not a transition'

Carney stressed that the great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, and supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.

 

"We're in a rupture, not a transition... You cannot "live within the lie" of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination," he said.

2. 'Old order not coming back..Nostalgia not a strategy'

The Canadian PM noted that the old world order is not going to come back, and the world cannot rely on nostalgia. "We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy," he said.

 

However, he expressed hope that we can "build something better, stronger, more just" from the fracture. Calling on the middle powers, he said, "The powerful have their power. But we have something too — the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home and to act together."

3. 'Strong can do what they can, weak must suffer what they must'

Noting that the "rule-based order" that gave a sense of protection for so long has "faded", he said, "The strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must."

 

He said that the rupture in the world order is the "end of a nice story and the beginning of a brutal reality" where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints. "But I also submit to you that other countries, particularly middle powers like Canada, are not powerless," he said.

4. 'When rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself'

Carney said that the multilateral institutions on which middle powers have relied — the World Trade Organisation, the United Nations, the Conference of the Parties (COP) — the very architecture of collective problem solving, are under threat.  

 

"As a result, many countries are drawing the same conclusions that they must develop greater strategic autonomy: in energy, food, critical minerals, in finance and supply chains. And this impulse is understandable. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself," he said.

5. 'Countries get along hoping compliance will buy safety. It would not'

Carney asked countries to stop giving in to the demands of the great powers, stating that it only buys a false sense of security. "There is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along. To accommodate. To avoid trouble. To hope that compliance will buy safety. It won't," he said.

 

"This fiction was useful. We participated in the rituals. And we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works," he added.