Carney meets with cabinet fresh after forceful speech aimed at Trump administration

Prime Minister Mark Carney is huddling with his cabinet in Quebec City to chart out the government's plan for the new year after using a closely watched moment on the world stage earlier this week to condemn the U.S. administration and signal a pivot for Canada.

They're meeting behind closed doors in the province's capital for two days starting Thursday for what's being described as a planning forum ahead of Parliament's return next week.

The prime minister heads into the meeting after wrapping a trip to China, Qatar and Switzerland, where he delivered a sobering speech at the World Economic Forum urging middle powers to stand up against "great powers" that use economic "coercion" like tariffs — a clear reference to U.S. President Donald Trump.

"This is not your average cabinet retreat," said Marci Surkes, chief strategy officer and managing director at Compass Rose, who previously ran policy and cabinet affairs in the Prime Minister's Office of Justin Trudeau.

"The prime minister will need all of those ministers to understand that this is not business as usual and that they will not be comporting themselves as though these are normal times. This is almost a warlike footing." 

Since the House of Commons rose for the holiday break in December, the geopolitical picture has shifted.

The U.S. captured Venezuela's leader, Nicolás Maduro, and the U.S. president has since indicated he would "run" the country while insisting that American oil companies move in on the country's vast fossil fuel reserves.

Trump had also intensified his demands that the U.S. control Greenland, an independent territory of Denmark, including threatening to slap tariffs on European countries who oppose him. On Wednesday the president announced he was backing down on those threats after speaking with the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. 

In what has become a defining moment of his time in office, Carney used his Tuesday speech in Davos to call for middle powers like Canada to band together.

"The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it," said Carney in his address. 

"But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger and more just." 

It's that framing that will dominate the cabinet meetings, said Surkes.

"This is a fundamental reset of how we view ourselves in the world and what we can accomplish. Who we saw as friend, now foe, who we see as foe, perhaps now friend," she said.

"Ministers need to reimagine how they are doing their jobs."