For those who closely follow the political scene in Ottawa, what has been most striking with the Liberals’ changing of the guard is how little things have actually changed. With his international roles, Prime Minister Mark Carney introduces new circles of influence to the position of prime minister, but he is being supported by the same core group of individuals who played central roles through the Trudeau years. Though Carney’s leadership has been portrayed as a fresh start and a new direction for the governing Liberals, his network essentially reinforces the entrenched Liberal establishment. Let’s connect the dots.
Prior to his Liberal coronation as leader and prime minister, Mark Carney’s most recent roles and responsibilities have focused his energy on advancing global objectives involving climate change policy and transitioning from oil and gas energy use. In 2020, when he stepped away from his position as Bank of England Governor, Carney became United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. With that position he worked within a Davos network of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to co-chair the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) initiative. As head of GFANZ, Carney went about dictating the WEF’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) imperatives in the boardrooms of the world’s largest financial institutions – an undertaking that is now the subject of a United States congressional hearing where Carney is being accused of establishing a global “climate cartel”.
Canadians should note that at the same time in 2020, Carney began to show up in Ottawa to informally advise the cabinet on matters of the economy and net-zero green policy. This is a role that was formalized in September 2024 when then-prime minister Justin Trudeau announced Carney was his special advisor on the economy and environment. Throughout the 2021-25 Liberal-NDP mandate, Carney was a fixture in the Liberals’ backrooms, a climate change activist exerting his influence on all economic matters from carbon tax hikes to increasing green energy subsidies, to undermining the development of pipelines and Canada’s LNG projects.
As a man committed to the UN’s 2030 Agenda and responsible for the WEF’s GFANZ initiative, Carney is likely to resist any departure from the Liberals’ current environmental policy direction. Terry Newman states in his National Post column about the new PM’s “climate obsessions” that “Mark Carney could be even more dedicated to strangling Canada’s resource economy than Trudeau.”
Just as his network with Davos associates is being kept under wraps, the Liberals are attempting to skirt Carney’s business activities with Brookfield Asset Management. At this mega-international investment firm, Carney not only chaired the Board of Directors but was also head of transition investing, raising more than US$25 billion for two private capital funds dedicated to transitioning to a net-zero emissions world in 2050 (mirroring the WEF / UN’s objectives). His dealings with his international network of business magnets raise the possibility for conflicts of interest, as does Brookfield’s projects and his own personal financial investments.
Carney and the Liberals have also avoided speaking about his business and personal ties to China and Beijing interests. The undue foreign influence being applied in Canada as a result of the close Liberal Party – Chinese Communist Party (CCP) relationship is a matter Liberals had wanted to bury with Trudeau. However, Carney is in the middle of the web of scandals involving the CCP as has been documented by investigative independent journalist Sam Cooper in his alarming piece entitled, “The Carney-Trudeau Nexus: How Financial Elites from Davos to Beijing Are Shaping Canada’s Next Federal Election.” It is a tale of international intrigue that has Carney involved with “a constellation of global influencers deeply tied” to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the WEF. Canadians may never know the degree to which the Liberals are kowtowing to Beijing as a result of their past and current dealings with the CCP, but it is now being exposed that Carney is another bit player in this whole sordid affair.
Inside Carney’s backroom
The quarterback of Carney’s political operatives is Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s best friend from his McGill days and the same quarterback of Trudeau’s backroom since 2015. For Carney, Butts is a perfect play caller for he is an ardent environmental activist who is similarly committed to the UN’s 2030 Agenda. Butts has been – and remains – a central driver of the Liberals’ green agenda, which has negatively impacted the country’s energy and natural resource development through the last decade. Though Butts took the fall for Trudeau in the SNC-Lavalin/Jody Wilson Raybould scandal in 2019, he has remained active in guiding the Liberals from his offices at the Eurasia Group, an international consultancy specializing in global environmental initiatives. In the last few years, the Eurasia Group has been directly linked to the Ottawa corridors of power having received an untold number of multi-million-dollar contracts with the government of Canada. Butts found the time to manage Carney’s bid for Liberal Party leadership and now has returned to the centre of the Carney’s circle.
Working beside Butts at Eurasia Group has been Carney’s wife, Diane Fox, whose reputation precedes her as a fevered “eco-warrior,” passionate about environmental and social justice causes. She works in the Eurasia Group’s New York offices as a senior advisor with expertise in “global climate and energy policy” and a zeal for net-zero transition projects.
Also plying his trade at the Eurasia Group until last week was Evan Soloman, formerly dismissed CBC News personality, who is now running for the Liberals in a downtown Toronto riding. Solomon served as editor of GZERO media, a subsidiary publishing firm and propaganda arm of the Eurasia Group. One expects this Butts disciple will be a key minister in a future Carney cabinet.
For the pivotal position of chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Carney tapped Liberal MP Marco Mendicino – the same disgraced, ethically challenged Trudeau minister who has been caught lying to Canadians on multiple occasions. Mendicino lied about allowing Paul Bernardo, one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, to transfer to a medium-security prison; lied about shutting down Chinese police stations operating in Canada; and, repeatedly lied about facts pertaining to protestors on Ottawa’s streets to justify the use of the Emergencies Act. Prior to his embarrassing stint as public safety minister, Mendicino served as Trudeau’s immigration minister to oversee the Liberals’ open borders policies.
David Lametti is a Carney-appointed prime ministerial advisor. Lametti is another old face serving as Trudeau’s cabinet minister, responsible for the “get-out-of-jail-free” deal for SNC-Lavalin, the Liberals’ soft on crime policies, and the minister responsible for evoking the Emergencies Act – which is now ruled “unconstitutional.”
Carney’s political team made news south of the border as well when the New York Post ran a feature story: “Justin Trudeau replacement, Canadian Liberal leader Mark Carney’s, deep ties to US Democrat bigwigs exposed.” The Post states the new prime minister has gone to great lengths to hide his association with John Podesta, former advisor to President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the head of former president Joe Biden’s $375 billion slush fund for green groups and programs. The bridging link between Podesta and Carney is Gerald Butts.
Last week, Carney appointed old friend Mark Wiseman, former Blackrock manager and a co-founder of the Century Initiative, an initiative advocating for a mass immigration push to increase Canada’s population to 100 million people. The Trudeau Liberals accepted Wiseman’s approach in Trudeau’s first mandate, and it was immigration minister Mendicino’s responsibility to enact the open border policy.
Regarding the new Liberal cabinet announced a few weeks ago, Carney kept in place the same group that has been making decisions for much of the Trudeau years. Many Trudeau cabinet ministers remained in senior positions, and some remained in their previous portfolios. Of the 23 members in cabinet, Carney picked 20 of Trudeau’s team, including Steven Guilbeault, Mélanie Joly, Dominic LeBlanc, Anita Anand, Bill Blair, François-Philippe Champagne, and his personal friend (and WEF Board Trustee) Chrystia Freeland. There was no cabinet shake-up, but rather the unveiling of a rehashed Trudeau Cabinet. This should not be surprising given that this is the group of ministers Carney has been working with since late 2019 when Trudeau first called upon him to counsel the Liberal backrooms. Carney is confident with this group, all who are committed to the Liberals’ commitments to the WEF and UN 2030 Agenda.
From his corporate dealings with GFANZ and with Brookfield’s investments, through to his political operatives – from Butts and Freeland to the band of carryover cabinet members, Carney’s refreshed Liberal government can be more aptly described as a refortified “Trudeau” Liberal core, with the additional muscle of Carney’s globalist networks at the UN and WEF. With the dots connected the Carney Liberals are, as Canadian investor and TV personality Kevin O’Leary has coined it, “just Trudeau 2.0 on steroids.”
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
