Did Carney just signal a massive shift in Canada's foreign policy direction?

Prime Minister Mark Carney turned some heads in Switzerland on Tuesday with his stark assessment of the current state of global affairs.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Carney said that not only is the old international order over and "not coming back" — but it had been a mirage all along.

"We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim," the prime minister said.

Sen. Peter Boehm, a former diplomat, told CBC's Power & Politics that Carney's remarks were the "most consequential" delivered by a Canadian prime minister since Louis St. Laurent — minister responsible external affairs at the time — laid out Canada's post-Second World War foreign policy direction in 1947.

"[St. Laurent] set out the parameters of the rules-based international order as it then was … and it's like Prime Minister Carney's speech today was a bookend to that," Boehm told host David Cochrane.

"It's been almost 80 years. We're going to have to think differently now and he provided all of the rationale for it."

But Roland Paris, a foreign policy adviser to former prime minister Justin Trudeau, told CBC News that Carney's speech left him wondering what comes next.

"Does this signal a shift in Canada's policy? Is Mark Carney preparing us for something? Or is this more of a philosophical statement?" Paris told host Aarti Pole.

Carney didn't mention U.S. President Donald Trump by name — but he did reference "American hegemony" and said "great powers" are using economic integration as "weapons."

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has made waves on the international stage. 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 then intensified his demand that the U.S. take control of Greenland, an independent territory of Denmark — and threatened tariffs on European countries who voiced opposition to the idea.

Derek Burney, former prime minister Brian Mulroney's chief of staff and a former ambassador to the U.S., said he interpreted Carney's speech as a message to both the most powerful countries, like the U.S., and middle powers.

"I think Mr. Carney was articulating a pretty clear strategy on what could be done so we don't become completely subservient to the whims of the superpowers," Burney told Cochrane on Power & Politics.

Like Carney, Burney also said that the world won't return to a rules-based international order once Trump has left office.