This week Mark Carney applied for the job he really wants: leader of a new "rules-based international order" centred around "middle powers." It is pretty much the same job that every Canadian prime minister, chafing at American power, has wanted. John Diefenbaker bristled at U.S. expectations that Canada host nuclear weapons, or support its Latin America strategy, and so hoped the British Commonwealth of Nations could exist as almost a rival to the United Nations. Pierre Trudeau embarrassed Richard Nixon by normalizing relations with China first, and Paul Martin oversaw the creation of the G20. Justin Trudeau, of course, tried to lecture the world about how Canada could lead the way on lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
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