What's Really Behind Mark Carney's Climate U-Turning?

The eco-globalist's whiplash switch to energy realism is not quite as it seems

There can be little doubt that climate change is dropping down the global political agenda. Though my colleague, Dr Tilak Doshi, is surely right that we should be cautious about proclaiming the death of climate alarmism – and its influence – there are many signs that put the peak of the green agenda in our rearview mirrors, at least symbolically. Not least of those symbols is the Canadian Prime Minister’s whiplash U-turning on climate and energy policy, seemingly in the face of new geopolitical realities.

Mark Carney has been sending disappointing signals to the green lobby since his victory at the April 2025 General Election. In May 2026, a bitter Guardian article gave an account of the new Prime Minister’s failings, declaring that he was “not the climate guy you thought”. Among these failings, explained Seth Klein, brother of Naomi of ‘no logo’ fame (Leftoid climate bullshittery tends to run in families) was the repeal of Canada’s consumer carbon price – a carbon tax. “Methane regulations have been weakened and delayed,” continued the whinge. “Canada’s clean electricity regulations… have been significantly delayed (to 2050) and have reopened the door to new gas-powered electricity plants.” Oh no! The full article is worth a read for being quite an enjoyable litany of liberal green tears, and shows Carney’s agenda to be distinct to climate-policy-at-all-costs that have characterised agendas such as his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, and UK governments. Even power-hungry Green Blobbers won’t let their ideology stand in the way of their power-grabbing.

And that’s the interesting thing about such whinges from the green liberal Left, who find themselves abandoned by their politically ambitious champion. What did they think was going to happen? Such indifference to public opinion that especially characterises European green politics has, as I’ve long been writing about, summoned up the very forces that it is terrified of. Without a supranational political organisation such as the EU above it, Canada was more vulnerable to democracy, and so the wholly anti-democratic green agenda gave way – at least partially – so much sooner.

There is manifestly a difference between the kind of green that is represented by Klein (who would whinge until Trudeau’s contempt gave Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre a super-majority) and the kind of globalist authoritarian green technocrat who can, despite all that, see such obvious electoral arithmetic as a liability to his political projects. Under Trudeau, Canada was being torn apart by its growing tensions – urban vs rural, truckers vs lockdown zealots, liberal vs conservative, oil-producing Alberta vs oil-banning British Columbia.