I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s changed in Canada since Justin Trudeau stepped away and Mark Carney stepped in. And if I’m honest, I’m not sure what the point of it all was.
This isn’t an attack. It’s not even really criticism. It’s just confusion. We lost months, maybe even years, of momentum. Trudeau, who led Canada for nearly a decade, left behind numerous issues: affordability, housing, crime, and growing social division. But when he stepped down, many of us thought: Maybe this is our turning point.
Instead, what we’ve gotten under Mark Carney is… silence. Or something that feels like it.
I respect Carney’s professional background. He’s a smart man, a great economist and a global thinker. But with all due respect, I don’t feel like he knows Canada the way a leader should. And that’s not because he hasn’t read the data or done his research, it’s because he feels distant.
He doesn’t speak like someone who understands the urgency of what ordinary Canadians are going through. He doesn’t show emotion. He doesn’t get angry. He speaks in polished sentences that sound more like press releases than leadership.
Maybe part of that is due to the media tone around him, which often feels too flattering, too curated, and frankly out of touch. In some cases, it’s hard not to notice how certain outlets have taken a side, benefiting from government support or subsidies while slowly losing the independence and freedom they once defended. That matters, because Canadians need journalism that challenges all sides, not just echoes power.
Now, we have about 7 percent unemployment, 1.6 million people unable to find work, and hundreds of thousands of newcomers arriving with no jobs to take. Rent is out of reach. Crime is creeping into places it never used to touch. The system seems more focused on the psychology of offenders than on justice for victims. While inflation on some products hits 30 to 60 per cent, payrolls haven’t moved. Most people aren’t living anymore; they’re just trying to survive.
Small businesses are hanging on by a thread. Owning a home feels impossible. Lifting taxes or controlling wasteful spending? Off the radar.
Honestly, making Canada a place where things work, where a better life is more than an idea, isn’t utopian. It’s possible. Other countries rich in oil or minerals are making strides. But for us? It feels like a fantasy.
And what’s Ottawa doing? Talking about interprovincial trade frameworks, enforced with the help of premiers, and “predictability.”
I’m not saying those things don’t matter. They do. But they don’t meet the moment on their own. There’s more to be done, urgently and decisively.
And honestly, at some point, we need to ask: What would’ve happened if the Conservatives had won the federal election instead? Has anyone thought about that? Would we be in a better position on trade? On immigration? On affordability? I’m just asking. It’s not about taking sides. It’s about asking, honestly and openly, whether the direction we’re on right now is solving the problems we face. Just loud thinking.
One of the most puzzling choices Carney made was keeping so many of the ministers in the Trudeau cabinet. I understand the idea of continuity. But if those ministers helped create the problems we now face, a housing crisis, bloated immigration targets, a stalled economy, why would we expect them to solve them?
It feels like we’re still living under the same government. Just with a different narrator.
And yes, Carney has announced a few new policies: repealing the carbon tax, cutting income taxes, and cancelling the capital gains hike. But let’s be honest, those were Conservative policies. Pierre Poilievre had been calling for them for years. Carney just showed up late and rebranded them as Liberal achievements.
I don’t mind when good policies win, regardless of who delivers them. But I do mind when political strategy gets passed off as vision.
I’m not writing this to vent. I’m writing because I care about this country. I want it to succeed. I want every Canadian citizen, newcomer, worker, and business owner to feel like they belong. Like there’s hope. Like the government is working for them.
Right now, I don’t feel that.
I don’t feel like we’re getting answers. I don’t feel like we’re being heard. I don’t feel like we’re being led.
Mark Carney may have the credentials. But what we need is courage, the courage to speak plainly, to act decisively, and to recognize that recycling the same players from a struggling government doesn’t fix anything.
Justin Trudeau left. Many of us hoped that meant real change.
But as I look around, I can’t help but ask:
What did we gain?
Because if this transition was never meant to lead, only to last, then we’re not just standing still.
We’re moving backwards.
As a Canadian News Hub family, for the past two years, we’ve survived by staying independent, speaking the truth, calling out what’s right and wrong, without receiving any government funding, without any sponsorship, and without leaning on any political machine. Just as Canadians.
With all due respect to every Canadian politician, regardless of party, I believe most of them truly care about Canadians. But it’s also true that polarization has become a serious issue in Canada.
Most of us are in the middle. We love this country. We want it to work.
We don’t need division. We need direction. We don’t need labels. We need leadership.
And more than anything, we need to keep believing in our potential, to contribute to our communities, to be heard, and to do our best.
Because Canada deserves better.