The Sign in The Window

Mark Carney at Davos: ‘It is time... to take their signs down.’ The crowd cheered. But has Carney taken his sign down—or is he still propping up the same facades?

Recently in Davos, Mark Carney gave a speech referencing Václav Havel’s Soviet-era greengrocer who displayed a communist slogan sign in his window—not out of belief, but compliance. People went wild with adoration for his remarks—finally, someone seemed to be calling for “taking the sign out of the window.” However, it seems more likely that the speech was not what many thought. It wasn’t an admission of any realization about the facade of a “rules-based order” in the West. More likely, it was Trump Derangement Syndrome—without mentioning Trump by name.

What makes it even more meaningless is that Carney himself would not hold his position were it not for so many facades still firmly in place. During COVID, for example, many refused to display any “sign”—whether in their window, on their face (masks), or in their arm (vaccines). Mark Carney, Trudeau’s economic advisor during COVID, clearly did not see this for what it was. It was non-compliance, exactly what is referenced in Václav Havel’s essay. Perhaps at that time it would not have been so convenient to get excited and cheer about non-compliance as it is in 2026, when Carney takes the stage.

Later, in Ottawa in 2022, many did exactly that with the Freedom Convoy (also known as the Truckers’ Convoy). They took the sign out of the window, stopped pretending to be afraid or that there was a real pandemic, and united against vaccine mandates, mask mandates, and all the other economically devastating “rules.” These were rules enforced by people pretending there was a pandemic when there was none. Meanwhile, the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau, with Chrystia Freeland at his side reacting to the Freedom Convoy, invoked the Emergencies Act illegally. It is now officially confirmed as illegal—the government appealed the decision and lost.

While no one in mainstream media makes the effort to clarify, Chrystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau did not gain any popularity for their extravagant displays of force against the protest and protesters. Ultimately, Carney wasn’t even chosen fairly by the Liberal Party itself—he became leader without a full leadership vote and was sworn in as Prime Minister in March 2025 after Trudeau abruptly left office due to his massive drop in popularity. Later, Carney somehow won an election—voter turnout was the highest it had been since 1930 in this election, with 69.5%—in April 2025. If not voting made a difference, why do they allow us not to do it?

The appeal against the ruling which found the Emergencies Act to be illegal itself was illegitimate from the start, funded by taxpayers to the tune of millions.¹ Why should we pay for the Liberal Party to defend its own abuse of power? Yet had they not appealed, would the party still be positioned to “win” another election? Is Mark Carney legitimately our Prime Minister under this mountain of fakeness? Before getting on the stage as our pretend prime minister, it’s absurd that he thinks he is in any position to enlighten anyone about what is fake or real.

1. https://theccf.ca/ottawa-spent-millions-fighting-emergencies-act-challenge/