Canadian Governance Policy Trends: When National Interests Change

This short piece argues that Canada’s understanding of its own national interest is shifting because the global context has changed. Using rising military spending and the retreat of democracy worldwide as indicators, the authors say the assumptions of the post-Cold War period no longer hold. They use Mark Carney’s changing rhetoric as an example of this adjustment, suggesting that positions that once seemed inconsistent can become rational when the underlying facts and geopolitical risks have changed.

The practical implication is that Canada may need a more pragmatic and less doctrinaire approach to international and domestic strategy. In the authors’ telling, that includes combinations that might once have seemed politically awkward, such as stronger federal-provincial energy alignment, more flexible trade and investment relationships, and a wider search for capital and partnerships. The paper is essentially a call to update policy thinking to match a harsher, less stable international environment.