Lean in, don't veer away

Dear Mr Carney

While your desire to hear a variety of perspectives is commendable, perhaps there are certain people we've heard enough from, and whose perspective is not valuable enough for the leaders of our country to spend time on.

May I draw your attention to a recent piece in The Tyee:

“It's honestly mind-boggling why any Liberal government would invite a key figure involved in the horror show that is Project 2025,” Dwivedi told The Tyee over text.

“The Carney government has not made clear what kind of particular insight or expertise this person would have had into active trade negotiations and Trump’s mindset within them, but what is clear is that Project 2025 seeks to erode basic norms of democracy, limit women’s access to reproductive health (including contraception), and to roll back rights for the LBGTQ+ community.”

Mr Carney, you promised Canadians “elbows up” and they soundly endorsed it. You spoke of a forever changed relationship with the United States and we sighed deeply and schooled ourselves to begin adjusting to it. Where did all that go? We still want it. Why have you backed away?

We’re not interested in eroding democracy the way the United States has. We’re not interested in fundamentalist, ideology-driven, culture-war driven agendas here in Canada. Diversity is a strength we want to lean into, not veer away from.

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