If Mark Carney’s Thursday leadership launch is indicative of the rest of his campaign, we’re headed for a monotone and imprecise seven weeks, filled with reminders that the man played hockey in his youth.
Not a lot was actually said at the community league hall in Edmonton where he announced his intentions to lead the Liberal party. The vibe, however, spoke volumes. Aged Liberal supporters filled the room, consistent with demographic patterns that are picked up by the polls. The protracted event saw media stand around for three hours, of which only 45 minutes involved Carney speaking.
The message, when he finally spoke? He’s running as the economy guy; the national pride guy; the guy who defends institutions; the guy who grew up in Canada and is Canadian (and Irish, and British). He’s above populism and slogans — he’s about plans.
Except he had no plans to show.
He could explain his concept of a plan in a level, stately, shareholder-meeting voice tuned to convey confidence without passion. Even. In. Halted. French. But the words were devoid of substance.
On the economy, Carney would replace the carbon tax with something else more efficient; we don’t know what, but it’ll be comprehensive, with more heft than a three-word slogan, he told us. And he should be trusted, whatever his plan ends up being, because “populists don’t understand how the economy in our society actually works.”
By taking a dig at conservatives for wanting to “demolish and destroy including many of the things on which we all and regular people depend,” he seemed to place himself in opposition to program cuts. Which might be fine if it we weren’t living in an age of massive government expansion in which numerous multi-million buckets of chum have been dumped by the Liberal party into the mouths of ever-hungry progressive interest groups and Liberal-friendly businesses. Then again, he lamented that the current government spends too much. Interpret it as you like.
As far as national pride went, he resorted to clichés. Canada is the greatest country in the world, built on hard work and great values, should be built into the strongest economy of the G7, bla bla bla. The same generic stuff you’ve certainly heard before. He at least managed to avoid resorting to tired utterances of “diversity is our strength,” and mentioned numerous times that he played hockey in the past, because hockey is a Canadian sport, and he grew up in Canada, and he’s skated on ice rinks, and did I mention he played hockey in the past?
Complaints about a broken Canada, which have become central to dinner conversations across the country and conservative political campaigns alike, are corrosive. Attacking core institutions is just “not the way we are.” Medium-to-high expectations are un-Canadian, you see.
As for Carney’s political plans, he’s not yet sure where he’s going to run for MP (“I will run as an MP. Somewhere.”)
He seemed warm in response to a question about whether he’d stay on as Liberal leader should his party lose the election: he made commitments to colleagues about firstly “what we can do for Canadians, but very much after that how we reinforce how we build the Liberal party for the long term.” A simple yes or no would have contained more meaning.
If this were an assignment, I would say that Carney didn’t read the instructions. He produced a launch that might have seemed more daunting prior to 2022, back when the Conservative opponent was Andrew Scheer or Erin O’Toole. Concepts of a plan voiced by a well-spoken, highly educated senior bureaucrat would have played well against a confused, meek opposition that flip-flopped in the face of every challenge. But today?
Carney is making himself out to be the straight man to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, with expertise rather than emotion, and by being methodical rather than impulsive. He wants to appear composed and by contrast, show his conservative counterpart to be shrill.
That might resonate if Poilievre was associated with comical exaggeration. But at this point, he’s better known for being a reflection of the simmering frustration felt across the population by the state of things — a reputation that has been well received since day 1 of his own leadership campaign. As far as first impressions go, Carney’s started us off with a dud. He only has until March 9 to bring it to life
National Post