It was such a relief to see Canadians read the room correctly — authoritarian disaster abounding — and elect Liberal Party Prime Minister Mark Carney to a new term. While I’m loath to give Trump credit for anything, he and President Elon Musk were huge (“UGE!”) motivating factors for Canadian voters to keep their Conservative Party out of power. One such Canadian who knew the Liberal Party simply had to win was actor-comedian Mike Myers. Though he’s lived in the US for decades now, and has acquired US citizenship, Trump & Musk’s pointed attacks on Canada have reignited a maple leaf fire in our favorite ogre’s soul. So Myers filmed a clever commercial with PM Carney for his campaign. Clearly, it helped! In an interview with the New York Times published before the election, Myers spoke about national pride, the abnormality of this moment, and using humor to fight back:
His t-shirt protest during the SNL credits: He thought about Mr. Musk’s remark that Canada is “not a real country,” and about how President Trump had called the former Canadian prime minister “Governor Trudeau” and rudely referred to Canada as “the 51st state.” He thought about tariffs, and about graffiti he’d seen in Winnipeg: “There’s no greater pain than being betrayed by a friend.” And he thought about the legendary Canadian hockey player Gordie Howe and his famous “elbows up” response to aggression on the ice. And so Mr. Myers, the 61-year-old star of the “Wayne’s World,” “Austin Powers” and “Shrek” films and a beloved figure on both sides of the Canadian-American border, boldly opened his down vest and flashed his “Canada Is Not for Sale” T-shirt on live television. “Elbows up,” he mouthed into the camera, twice.
Supporting PM Mark Carney: The result was a television ad for the Liberal Party, featuring Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mr. Myers — wearing a “Never 51” jersey — chatting beside a hockey rink. Though the race has been tightening, the Liberals have been buoyed by a surge of anger at Mr. Trump’s bellicose behavior, and pollsters say they are favored to defeat the Conservatives in Monday’s federal elections.
The angle of Myers having to prove he’s still Canadian: Inspired by “those World War II movies where they ask the fake Americans who won the World Series” as a way to unmask them, Mr. Myers said, he wanted the ad to be a reaffirmation of his own Canadianness as well as an endorsement of Mr. Carney. “I wanted it to be like, ‘I know I don’t live there anymore, and let’s talk about that,’” he said. “I thought it would be funny if the prime minister of Canada ran an identity test on me.” (The part in which Mr. Myers correctly identifies Toronto’s “two seasons” as “winter and construction” was contributed by Mr. Myers’s best friend since childhood, David Mackenzie, he said.)
Power in comedy: “To the extent that Elon Musk is involved in our democratic government, it goes against how I feel as a Canadian,” he said of Mr. Musk’s slash-and-burn approach. “We don’t have a distrust of the government. We have a belief in good government.” And comedy is one way Mr. Myers can make that point, he believes. “Fascism doesn’t like to be ridiculed; it likes to be feared,” he said. “Satire is an important tool in the toolbox to say that this is not normal — that the cuts he’s making are not normal.”
“Fascism doesn’t like to be ridiculed; it likes to be feared.” Yes, definitely, to the first part. But I’m gonna get nitpicky and say that being feared is the plan B for fascists, once they realize they’re not getting what they really want: love and respect. I actually think that’s one of the things Myers captures so brilliantly in his depiction of Elon Musk on SNL — the ever-present insecurity and desperation to be liked by his peers. Then when that isn’t forthcoming, because it can’t be forced or bought, they sit in stony-faced silence while blasting techno music and plotting more ways to ruin the world. Ok, quibbling finished. More importantly, yes please let’s deploy the art of comedy and satire and ridicule to… merely tell the truth about these guys. I’m so glad Myers has answered the long-standing SNL call for former cast members to return when they have the dubious distinction of resembling a relevant politician (or in this case, campaign donor). Also, I love Myers even more for giving his childhood friend full credit for the “winter and construction” line, which was hilarious. That’ll do, Myers. That’ll do.
I always liked Mike Myers and still do. He is correct fascism doesn’t like to be ridiculed. I refuse to be fearful because it fuels them.
Good point. That’s why Hitler hated Charlie Chaplin who filmed “The Great Dictator” just for Herr Adolf.
Mike Myers was one of the few to step up in this moment – most rich Canadian actors and celebrities are more worried about their livelihoods and not saying a damn thing. Their collective silence in the face of threats of annexation is deafening. This is a brave thing Mike did and I’ll never forget it- who knew in 2025 Mike Myers would be Canada’s hero and Wayne Gretzky (who is of Ukrainian descent and posing at Mar-a-Largo with DT, who didn’t greet the Canadian hockey players bench at the tourney but stopped to greet the US one and has STILL not bothered to pick up his Order of Canada) its traitor?
Good for Mike Myers. Need 51 indeed! Elbows up!!!
Agreed! And Wayne Gretzky is a complete traitorous pile of making garbage. #Never51
Oops – typo – meant traitorous pile of flaming garbage!
This will rock the world of the inflexible, the dogmatic, the bigots, the “American exceptionalists”, and the racists:
– Our largest city is more than half POC;
– We welcome immigrants from all over the world, of every colour, language and religion;
– We consider our diversity to be a superpower;
– Ours is a mosaic, not a melting pot;
– We don’t force people to give up their first citizenship in order to hold ours, hence Mike Myers, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, and many others;
– Our new Prime Minister was the head of the Bank of England. It’s not a big deal; and,
– We have publicly declared that what we did to our indigenous peoples was cruel, immoral, genocidal and requires redress.
You can be proud and humble at the same time. It’s okay to admit that you weren’t always perfect, and aren’t perfect now, as long as you make an effort to do better. It’s not necessary to screech daily about how you are “the greatest country in the world”. Fear is not the same as respect. When the emperor has no clothes, you’ll look like a fool if you insist otherwise, demand that everyone is “loyal” to him, and claim that everyone should praise him for his wisdom.
Preach.
Overall, I feel relief. But we aren’t out of the woods. The Liberal party managed the win by pulling support from other parties like the Bloc Quebecois (they know Quebec culture would be eroded if Canada’s lost its sovereignty to the US so they voted for country over party). The Conservatives actually grew their base with the highest popular vote share they’ve had since the 1980s. The polling was all wrong.
Carney has a minority government, which means they will need to cooperate with other parties to pass legislation and another election could happen in the next two years. If he doesn’t “fix” the affordability issues the Conservatives ran on (much like Trump did), I expect they’ll win the next election.
The silver lining is the Conservative leader lost his seat likely for supporting the convoy occupation in Ottawa.
Just a quick correction, the graffiti was in Calgary—I live here and it was on the overpass near our Memorial Drive (which is super meaningful as that’s one of our war memorials). “There is no greater enemy than a friend betrayed.”
And go Carney!! Such a great result. He’s who we need right now.