Carney's UK Trip
Prime Minister Carney travelled to London, England from September 25 to 28, where he took part in meetings that he said were essential to open new markets for Canadian products. A press release from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said, "During his visit, Prime Minister Carney met with the prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, and Iceland to deepen ties in trade and security – advancing collaborative action on critical global security priorities, including lasting peace in Europe, notably in Ukraine, and the Middle East. The Prime Minister also met with global leaders in investment and private capital to make the case for investing in Canada."
Carney said his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was to ensure the two leaders are on track to make progress on economic and security measures they agreed to when they met in Ottawa on June 15 prior to the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. Named as areas of joint interest coming out of the June meeting were the following: trade, semiconductors, trans-Atlantic communications based on quantum technologies, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, civilian nuclear technology and critical minerals. Also discussed in June were Ukraine, Canada-UK military cooperation, intelligence sharing – bilaterally and also through NATO and the U.S.-led Five Eyes espionage network, national security and border security.
In meetings with investment firms from Britain, Europe, Africa and Asia, Carney pitched investing in Canada based on the "major infrastructure projects being built in Canada and the ways the country is looking to court more global capital," Canadian Press noted. CP reported Carney saying that his discussions in New York and London were "about the overall investment climate, not specific transactions or investment deals" and also about how potential investors perceive Canada and how to raise its "investor profile."
Carney also attended the Global Progress Action Summit in London on September 26, where, according to the PMO, various world leaders met "to advance policies that catalyze sustainable economic growth – ensuring Canadian workers are empowered and that our businesses can thrive in this transformed geopolitical landscape."
One of the organizers of the event was the Canadian think tank called the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP). It claimed the event to be "the largest gathering of progressive leaders and thinkers in the world." As if working people have anything to do with the pay-the-rich schemes these "progressive leaders and thinkers in the world" use their positions of power and privilege to implement, the theme of this year's conference was "governing for working people."
To claim that Carney and his government are progressive and govern for working people beggars belief, as is also the case when it comes to British PM Keir Starmer. A Globe and Mail report informed that "much of the discussion revolved around how to tackle the rise of the far-right and deal with U.S. President Donald Trump." Starmer referenced a large "far-right" rally that took place in London earlier in September claiming the significance of the rally was that participants espoused a "poisonous belief" in "a coming struggle, a defining struggle, a violent struggle for the nation, for all our nations." In a reference to Nazi Germany, Starmer added, "And you don't have to be a great historian to know where that kind of poison ends up."
This is how the extreme pay-the-rich policies, militarization of the economy, war preparations and use of police powers and violence to silence dissent are portrayed as progressive. Starmer is mistaken in his belief that the long history of the British state's collaboration with the Nazis and its use of state-organized racism against the Irish, peoples from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia to divide the people and keep themselves in power, emulated in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere is forgotten.
Meanwhile, Carney presented his government to the conference as having won the election because of "growing unease" about "loss of control" over such things as inflation and immigration. "Our election and what Canadians were feeling, like in many electorates but in a slightly different way, was a sense of loss of control. That's what happens when inflation is too high, that's what happens when there is a sense that migration isn't being adequately managed," he said.
He
described his government's priorities as fighting U.S. tariffs,
supporting workers and building the economy. "People want and
deserve
that positive agenda, it's not engaging on the turf of the more
negative agenda," he said.
One wonders what is progressive about a government that is fundamentally negating rights as it does in Bill C-2, runs roughshod over environmental regulations and the people's right to decide if and how natural resources are to be extracted and used as it does in Bill C-5, has a housing scheme based on pay-the-rich schemes, not guaranteeing the right to housing, uses dictate against workers defending their rights, plans massive layoffs of the public service workers, among other aspects of the Carney government's agenda.
Carney's latest trip abroad confirms that working people must prepare for the future the Carney government is creating. Defence of rights and opposition to the government's anti-social, anti-national and pro-war agenda is the order of the day.
This article was published in
Volume 55 Number 10 - October 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M5501020.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca