Fact-based journalism that sparks the Canadian conversation

Articles Business Environment Health Politics Arts & Culture Society

Special Series Hope You’re Well For the Love of the Game Living Rooms In Other Worlds: A Space Exploration Terra Cognita More special series >

For the Love of the Game

In Other Worlds: A Space Exploration

More special series >

Events The Walrus Talks The Walrus Video Room The Walrus Leadership Roundtables The Walrus Leadership Forums Article Club

The Walrus Video Room

The Walrus Leadership Roundtables

The Walrus Leadership Forums

Subscribe Renew your subscription Change your address Magazine Issues Newsletters Podcasts

Renew your subscription

The Walrus Lab Hire The Walrus Lab Amazon First Novel Award

Amazon First Novel Award

What I Learned at the Liberal Convention as Carney Clinches His Majority

The party’s principles now depend on what the moment requires

Liberal party members milled, decked in red lanyards, taking photos. “Welcome to Libcon2026” read a banner high on the wall at the top of the escalators in Montreal’s Palais des congrès. On a merch table nearby lay piles of red shirts and crewnecks, emblazoned with the Liberal logo. Two rows of black hats were amongst the items. The words “Canada Strong” printed across the front in solid block letters, cold and direct, like the name of a construction firm.

The Liberal Party of Canada has secured a majority government

The 2026 Liberal National Convention outlined a shift in party ideology

Carney’s political vision is rooted in pragmatism rather than Trudeau’s reliance on hope

It was Friday, day two of the first convention since the 2025 election. It was also the party’s first since Mark Carney’s ascent to prime minister last spring. At its peak, the convention would apparently boast 4,500 people. A record number, if you like to keep track of those things, which Team Carney definitely does. Carney’s anti-flashy, technocratic governing style, paired with ambitious public spending proposals on housing and defence, has pushed the Liberals far ahead of the Conservatives and the New Democratic Party in national polls.

And today, thanks to three by-election wins, Carney’s Liberals have a majority.

Decode the stories behind the headlines with The Walrus newsletter. Sign up for The Walrus newsletter and get trusted Canadian journalism straight in your inbox.

The new Liberal era, now just over a year old, has eschewed the usual sloganeering in favour of a one-word mantra: pragmatism. The concept is displayed most prominently in the way Carney’s government conducts itself. A day before the convention, the Liberals welcomed yet another floor crosser—the fifth since November—Marilyn Gladu, who was once such a fervent Conservative that she ran for that party’s leadership. Bygones be bygones, apparently.

In a statement to the CBC that followed Gladu’s arrival, Carney said she would be a great team member, noting her “energy, ideas, advice on a wide range of issues, including execution, getting things done.” What it mostly “got done,” in the immediate term, was it gave the Liberals a cleaner shot at a narrow but meaningful majority, something they haven’t had in a decade, despite never quite losing hold on government during that time. Pragmatism.

It’s a noticeable shift. The Justin Trudeau Liberals developed over time into a party with a defined moral mandate—that is, exuding a form of dogmatic progressivism that eventually, for some, bordered on exclusionary.

Carney has set forth on a more corporate vision. There may still be lines in the sand as to what the party can tolerate, but they are variable and shifting, drawn as........

© The Walrus