Mark Carney didn’t just win the 2025 election—he absorbed the Conservatives and revealed that Liberalism now functions as Canada’s ruling system.

The 2025 federal election wasn’t so much a contest as it was a coronation. From the moment Mark Carney was installed as Liberal leader, the outcome became a matter of formality. The Conservative Party, bloated on its own cultural resentment and chronically unable to win Quebec, did what it always does: shouted loudly, alienated key demographics, and cleared the path for another Liberal minority.

But something deeper happened this time. Carney didn’t just beat the Conservatives. He absorbed them. Governing with the polished cruelty of a banker and the imperial theater of a monarchist, he revealed what Canadian politics has long tried to obscure: that Liberalism in this country is no longer the center. It is the system. And now it wears Tory red.

The Conservative Brand Is Designed to Fail

Conservatism in Canada, especially in Ontario, has abandoned any pretense of being progressive. What remains is a far-right cultural project: frontier cosplay, anti-urban resentment, dog-whistle xenophobia, and thinly veiled anti-feminism dressed up as “traditional values.”

But this isn’t a viable national strategy. Without Quebec, the Conservatives cannot win. And Quebec voters — along with much of urban Canada — recoil from the party’s performative rage and hollow nationalism. The louder they get, the more securely voters retreat to the Liberal center.

In this way, the Conservatives have become the perfect foil: always visible, never viable. They exist not to win power, but to scare just enough people into voting Liberal. Like an emotional shock collar for the electorate, their job is to bark loudly so the public runs back to the safe technocrats.

Liberalism as Default, Not Ideology

The brilliance of modern Liberalism is that it no longer pretends to inspire. It doesn’t need to. The Liberal Party survives by managing fear, not offering hope. Its pitch isn’t progress — it’s protection.

This isn’t ideology. It’s infrastructure. Liberalism operates like a firewall against populist disruption, always ready to absorb activist energy, rebrand elite consensus, and preserve the appearance of democracy while maintaining the status quo. The Liberals are not the alternative to Conservative failure. They are the reward for it.

Mark Carney: The Technocrat King’s Man

Carney is the perfect embodiment of this shift. As a former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, he personifies elite consensus. He is not a politician. He is a manager. And he has arrived not to challenge power, but to administer it.

When Carney invited King Charles to open Parliament, it wasn’t just a throwback to royal tradition. It was a clear signal: this government is not here to disrupt Canada’s colonial legacy. It is here to embody it.

Carney governs as a Tory would: economically austere, socially aloof, imperially loyal. But because he wears Liberal red, the media calls it responsible, not reactionary. His rule exposes the fundamental truth of post-partisan Canada: the policies don’t change, only the branding does.

What’s Left of the NDP and Tories

With Carney occupying both the center and the center-right, the political battlefield is barren. The NDP, still licking its wounds after years of propping up Liberal governments, offers little more than muted outrage and soft-focus appeals to justice. The Conservatives, meanwhile, rage from the margins, unable to form a coalition broad enough to challenge Liberal dominance.

In this environment, neither opposition party is a real threat. They are part of the machinery, absorbing dissent and offering just enough friction to keep the system looking alive. But their roles are scripted. Their presence is performative.

Empire in Red

Mark Carney didn’t just win an election. He closed a chapter. The old party distinctions are now hollow. The Liberals wear the crown, speak for capital, and govern with the discipline of empire. The Conservatives bark from the sidelines, and the NDP gestures vaguely at justice from the back row.

This is not pluralism. It is managed decline. And the man in charge is not a visionary. He is a steward. The question now is not who holds power — it’s whether there is any real opposition left to challenge it.

Canada isn’t drifting right. It already arrived. The throne speech just made it official.