Good morning. In 2026, Canada resolves to be more pragmatic and clear-eyed. Parliament will return on Monday with that – and lots more – in mind. More on the country’s new outlook below, along with plans for AI regulation and Gaza’s ceasefire. But first:

• Trump’s Greenland deal could include U.S. sovereignty over military bases and mineral rights
• CEO of Vancouver’s Hootsuite says ICE contract will stand as long as the agency honours its terms and conditions
• Quebec puts the brakes on emissions targets citing economy and rollbacks

Hi, I’m Steve Chase, a senior parliamentary reporter with The Globe, and I have returned to our Ottawa bureau after travelling with the Prime Minister for the past eight days.

I was able to cover Mark Carney’s first official visit to China, shortly before he forged a “strategic partnership” with Beijing and delivered a provocative speech to the World Economic Forum that, without naming Donald Trump, blamed the U.S. President for hastening the end of the international rules-based order.

Timing is everything in politics and what made Carney’s blunt message so pertinent was Trump’s recent threat of tariffs and military force to acquire Greenland (which he has since walked back). The Prime Minister told business and politics elites in Davos, Switzerland, that middle powers must stop pretending the rules-based international order is still functioning and instead build coalitions to survive in a new era where great powers prey on smaller countries to take what they want.

He also gave a state of Canada speech yesterday ahead of his cabinet ministers’ retreat in Quebec City in preparation for the resumption of Parliament Monday.

But it’s worth looking back and taking stock of how the Prime Minister’s trip signalled a significant departure from the values-based foreign policy practised under predecessor Justin Trudeau to something Carney calls more pragmatic and clear-eyed.

Carney’s Jan. 20 address in Davos, about the need for middle powers to take a more hard-nosed approach to international relations now that they can no longer rely on the United States, laid out his rationale for rapprochement with Communist Party leadership in China. Danielle wrote more about this in Wednesday’s newsletter.

Previously, he said, with middle powers under the protection of the U.S.-led rules-based international order, which governed international security and rules of trade, Canada could afford to be more discerning in its international trading relationships. “We could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection,” Carney told Davos.

But that day is gone as the U.S. grows more protectionist, transactional and willing to use economic coercion in violation of previous norms.

Now countries must undertake “broad engagement,” he said.

On Jan. 17, the Prime Minister reset relations with Beijing after years of strained ties by jettisoning 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles that Ottawa had originally imposed in tandem with the United States to prevent these subsidized and overproduced autos from damaging nascent EV production in North America. In return, Canada got relief from retaliatory tariffs on its No. 1 export to China, canola seed, as well as temporary exemptions from punitive levies on other products including seafood.

Carney said he hopes to see Chinese automakers put down roots in Canada within three years, offering hope that Beijing could offset declining domestic vehicle production by U.S. automakers. And it seems it worked quickly: My colleagues have published an exclusive report that Chinese car company Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. is laying the groundwork to sell its EVs in Canada.

Carney’s government also invited China to invest in Canada’s energy sector, including its oil sands, with few signs it was fencing off areas other than critical minerals, artificial intelligence and defence.

The most memorable phrase from the Prime Minister’s trip to China was how he justified inviting Beijing to play a larger role in Canada’s economy despite its human rights record and its menacing of Taiwan. We must “take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be,” Carney told reporters.

What’s interesting about this new approach, which Carney says is more realistic, is Canada and China have stowed their differences, not resolved them. This includes China’s EV subsidies, Canada’s arrest of tech executive Meng Wanzhou and Beijing’s jailing of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, concerns over Chinese interference and national-security fears over espionage and hacking that led Ottawa to bar a slew of investment from China over the past 10 years.

The Prime Minister, speaking in Davos, said Canada needs to look for common ground with other countries so it can make deals and prosper in this new multipolar word.

“If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” he told the World Economic Forum.