Mark Carney, or the Art of Shifting from Climate Alarm to Ac

[Oscar]

Mark Carney, or the Art of Shifting from Climate Alarm to Accelerating Fossil Fuel Use

(Note: What follows is a machine translation of a French-language article that appeared today in Le Devoir.)

QUOTES: "The Prime Minister’s contradictions undermine the credibility of a narrative already weakened by years of inaction.

"Canada is at a critical juncture: it must avoid further locking its economy into carbon."

Johanne Whitmore and Pierre-Olivier Pineau - Le Devoir - September 22 2026

(The former is a senior researcher at the Chair in Energy Sector Management at HEC Montréal; the latter is a full professor at the Chair in Energy Sector Management at HEC Montréal.)

EXCERPT: "Since taking office, Mark Carney has made numerous statements in defense of an energy strategy that relies on expanding fossil fuel supplies. This position is surprising because it contradicts the warnings he issued barely a decade ago, muddies a message that strongly highlighted the climate emergency and the risks of carbon lock-in it posed to our economies, and raises a simple question: How can a leader shift from an alarmist stance to a line of reasoning that fuels the very crisis he described as imminent and irreversible? . . .

In his book *Values: Building a Better World for All* (2021), Carney revisited this same concept of the “tragedy of the horizon,” emphasizing that future generations will pay the price for inaction that current decision-makers have no direct incentive to address. He also recalled a fundamental principle of macroeconomics: Say’s Law, which states that supply creates its own demand. Producing more fossil fuels, he said, amounts to stimulating their consumption and reinforcing dependence on carbon. . . . .

Canada deserves better than inconsistent leadership. Perhaps it is time to demand that the Mark Carney of 2026 be held accountable to the Mark Carney of 2015. Not out of nostalgia, but because the latter understood something essential: that the climate emergency cannot wait, and that every decision that prolongs our dependence on fossil fuels further reduces the room for maneuver of future generations."

[ edevoir.com/opinion/idees/1010762/mark-carney-ou-art-passer-alerte-climatique-acceleration-fossile ]