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Hanes: As Trump's threats escalate, Canadians are trying to live our lives amid a broken world order

16 12
22.01.2026

In a landmark speech in Davos on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave voice to what many of us have sensed deep down for a year now.

There with you then. Here with you now. As a critical part of the community for over 245 years,The Gazette continues to deliver trusted English-language news and coverage on issues that matter. Subscribe now to receive:

There with you then. Here with you now. As a critical part of the community for over 245 years,The Gazette continues to deliver trusted English-language news and coverage on issues that matter. Subscribe now to receive:

There with you then. Here with you now. As a critical part of the community for over 245 years,The Gazette continues to deliver trusted English-language news and coverage on issues that matter. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

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Without naming names, he lamented the “breaking of the world order; the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a brutal reality where the geopolitics of the great powers is not subject to any constraint.”

As if anyone needed a reminder of what he was referring to, a few hours later U.S. President Donald Trump gave a deranged press conference to mark one year since his return to the White House in which he vowed there is “no going back” on his claim over Greenland. And when asked how far he would go to seize the semi-autonomous territory that is administered by Denmark, Trump growled: “You’ll find out.”

When Trump showed up Wednesday morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he demanded immediate negotiations with Europe for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, but tempered his words somewhat: “I don’t have to use force.”

He also had a message for Carney — one that should chill all Canadians.

“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, next time you make your statements.”

Does anybody else feel like they are straddling two alternative universes?

On the one side, there’s the familiar: the comfortable daily........

© Montreal Gazette