Canadian politics is dominated by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. It's not quite a two-party system, but no other party has ever formed government at the federal level. Under former leader Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party was center-left or simply centrist, depending on who you ask.
Faced with plummeting polls and the prospect of a Conservative majority government, new Liberal leader Mark Carney decided to push his party to the right. He started by adopting Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's signature policy: axing the carbon tax.
Carney then copied much of the Conservative Party's platform for the April federal election. He promised to tighten border security, cut immigration, "crack down" on drugs, and increase military spending. Much like Poilievre, Carney also leaned into Canadian nationalist sentiment and promised to push back against Trump's tariffs.
Despite Carney's obvious shift to the right, some "progressive" groups such as Cooperate For Canada turned a blind eye and continued to endorse Liberal candidates.
Carney's strategy worked, bringing the Liberal Party back from the dead in the polls and winning the election and the popular vote (43% to the Conservatives' 41%).
One of Carney's first acts, Bill C-5, granted him the power to bypass Canadian laws and regulations in order to speed up construction projects. Conservatives voted for the bill, eager to support new oil and gas infrastructure.
Carney's first budget, released in November, plans to cut thousands of government jobs and dramatically increase military spending. The $84 billion boost to the military is Canada's biggest increase since the Korean War. The new funding includes retroactive pay increases and $2.7 billion for forces stationed in Latvia.
The budget also cuts the number of foreign students allowed into Canada by over 50%, a huge financial blow to post-secondary institutions across the country. Canadian universities will lose billions of dollars of revenue.
Broad cuts to immigration have already begun, with new restrictions on permanent residency, temporary residency, and refugee claims still to come.
If these policies all sound like Conservative Party staples, it's because they are.
Now Carney is continuing his right-wing push, promising to build pipelines, bypass environmental regulations, reduce funding for clean drinking water on First Nations, and hand out billions of dollars in corporate welfare. He also wants to give police more powers to access private data without a warrant. Instead of pushing back against Trump, he is largely following Trump's lead in immigration, border security, and trade.
Some Canadians are now complaining that Carney is ruling the country like a conservative. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who read his election platform. He campaigned from the right. He is now ruling from the right.