FIRST READING: Mark Carney's favourite catchphrase

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In his speech opening the new session of the Supreme Court of Canada this week, Chief Justice Richard Wagner spoke of a world that seems "increasingly uncertain" and plagued with "unrelenting pressures."

"Polarization is deepening, events unfold at a relentless pace," he said.

It may sound like standard Ottawa boilerplate, but the rhetoric is eerily similar to one of the preferred themes of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is similarly known to begin speeches with a description of the planet being plagued by division and uncertainty.

In perhaps the most obvious example, in just the last 16 months Carney has produced nearly 100 statements, letters or speeches that contained some variant of the term "dangerous and divided world."

When LNG Canada announced a $33 billion expansion last week, a release from the Prime Minister's Office called it good news for a more "dangerous and divided world."

When the prime minister of Norway visited Ottawa last month, Carney said it represented a forging of new ties against a "more dangerous and divided world."

At a clean energy announcement in Oct. 2025, Carney said Canadian electricity generation needed to be strengthened "because the world is increasingly dangerous and divided."

His first mandate letter to his ministers warned of "a more dangerous and divided world, geopolitical risks are rising, threatening our sovereignty."

"In a more dangerous and divided world, the members of our Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) continue to answer the call to defend our sovereignty, protect our communities, and keep Canada strong," Carney said in a June statement marking Canadian Armed Forces Day.

The term even shows up in press briefing announcing routine appointments.

When Carney hired John Hannaford to act as his personal envoy to the European Union, Hannaford was sent off with the hope that he could reinforce "transatlantic security as we face a more divided and dangerous world."

Prior to Carney's entry into the House of Commons, there was just one recorded instance of the term "dangerous and divided" being spoken by a sitting MP. It came in 2006, and was spoken by then Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice.

The occasion was a lengthy speech denouncing the Bloc Québécois, and their tabling of a motion stating that Quebecers "form a nation" within Canada.

In singing the praises of a Canada that Prentice accused the Bloc of trying to destroy, he said it is "a symbol of hope to a very dangerous and divided world."

Under the Carney government, the term has been mentioned in Parliament not only by Carney, but increasingly by other Liberal MPs.

During a debate over finances in June, for instance, the term appeared twice in only a few minutes. Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed began a speech by saying "we all know we are living through one of the most dangerous and divided moments the world has seen in generations."

This was followed shortly after by Liberal MP Shannon Miedema, who used the term to defend the military budget.

"In a more dangerous and divided world, Canada is taking full responsibility for defending our sovereignty and building our strength as a reliable partner and ally," she said.

Canada finally seems to have reached some kind of political consensus on when assisted suicide shouldn't be allowed.

When MAID was first legalized in Canada, it was initially only permitted for terminally ill patients.

Then, following a Quebec court challenge, in 2021 the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expanded the eligibility to include anyone with a "grievous or irremediable" illness (the so-called "track two" qualification).

MAID eligibility expanded again in 2024 when Quebec declared that it would no longer require patients to be conscious in order to give consent for assisted suicide; only a written "advance directive" would be required. Although it was technically asking doctors to commit homicide, it continued in large part because of a federal refusal to challenge the new measure.

Although the "track two" legislation in 2021 had included a provision for MAID to eventually be extended to Canadians whose only underlying condition was a mental illness, the Carney government has just pledged to exclude psychiatric conditions from MAID eligibility. The pledge just so happened to come on the same day that the Liberal caucus helped defeat a Conservative private member's bill on just this subject.

There is a catch, however: The Liberals are also planning to use the legislation to codify the Quebec-style "advance directive" measure, meaning it would become legal to prescribe a doctor-assisted death to a patient who is unconscious, unresponsive or confused by dementia. All that would be needed is a prior, written request for MAID.

If Canada is drawing the line at administering MAID for illnesses such as depression or bipolar disorder, it's far short of where Dying With Dignity, Canada's leading pro-MAID advocacy group, probably might have taken it.

The group has pushed hard for the mental illness provision to be enacted. And in an interview with The Walrus in 2024, a Dying With Dignity spokesperson was asked if they would ever endorse assisted suicide for children whose only condition was psychiatric.

"I mean that's so far down the road. I don't know," was the reply.

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