Canadians, as new Liberal leader Mark Carney pointed out in his low-key victory speech, want change.
The question, perhaps the ballot question, is whether Carney can convince them he is an agent of that change, and distinguish himself from his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
The task was not helped by the format of Sunday evening’s event, which served as both a tribute to Trudeau and a launching pad for his successor.
Liberals are said to be more pumped up than at any time since Trudeau came to power.
Former prime minister Jean Chrétien stiffened spines in his warm-up to the main event, when he said no-one would starve the country into submission, before delivering his rallying cry: “Vive le Canada.”
But the audience was presented with the uncomfortable spectacle of Trudeau sitting in the front row, forcing himself to nod along as Carney said that new challenges demand new, positive leadership that will end divisions.
It was surely not beyond the bounds of logistical possibility for Liberals to celebrate Trudeau’s leadership the previous evening, thereby reducing his visibility on Sunday. The soon-to-be-former prime minister forced a grin as Carney talked about how he will get Canada back on track by scrapping “the divisive” consumer carbon tax and stopping the hike in the capital gains tax. He said he has a plan to make Canada an energy superpower “in clean and conventional energy” and he has pledged to slow the growth in government spending and cap the size of the public service.
But the damage was already done. The Conservatives are preparing ads that feature the shot of the two men embracing.
Party leader Pierre Poilievre took to social media to say that the Liberals are trying to trick Canadians into electing them for a fourth time by replacing Trudeau with his economic adviser.
“It is the same Liberal team that drove up taxes, housing costs and food prices, while Carney personally profited from moving billions of dollars and thousands of jobs out of Canada into the U.S.,” he said (referring to Carney’s moves as head of Brookfield Asset Management).
Buried beneath the partisan hyperbole is a nub of truth. By my count, all but six out of 36 cabinet ministers backed Carney. The new leader will have to name his own cabinet in the coming days but is he really going to oust some of the people who helped him win? Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly reportedly told Liberal MPs that she briefed Carney (whom she supported) about U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs but did not speak to the other candidates. It would seem highly unlikely that such partiality will be rewarded with a demotion.
In his speech Sunday, Carney did not sugarcoat the challenges ahead. “It won’t be business as usual,” he said. “We will have to do things we haven’t imagined before, at speeds we didn’t think were possible.”
The overwhelming nature of his victory (with 86 per cent party support), and the broader rise in Liberal support in national polls, suggests many voters see Carney as the man for the moment.
They appear to have reached the conclusion that asking who should lead the country is, in Henry Ford’s rhetorical device, like asking who shall be tenor in the quartet. “Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.”
But will people look past the fact that Carney is one man, and the party in power and most of its senior members will remain the same people who have dragged the country to such a low ebb?
Carney’s chief advantage is that polls suggest voters think he would not roll over and accept whatever Trump demands. It is a finding that the new leader and his team have embraced, judging by the line of attack in his speech on Sunday. “Pierre Poilievre will leave us divided and ready to be conquered because a person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him,” he said.
The Conservatives are worried enough about being linked with Trump that they are drawing up ads that point out the president said Poilievre is “not a MAGA guy” and that he doesn’t like what the Conservative leader has been saying about him.
Carney has been elected on the eve of what he called “the most important election of our lives” — the timing of which he now controls. It will likely be called within two weeks, while Trump’s tariffs are still front of mind for voters.
Drawing up the writ will also level the playing field when it comes to election spending, curtailing the Conservative party’s financial advantage.
It is inexcusable that Canada’s response to Trump’s designs has been hampered by government paralysis in the first half of this year.
But, finally, belatedly, the stage is set for Canadian voters to have their say.
The Conservatives are already claiming that Carney is a top-down globalist who has championed bad ideas like DEI and ESG, while threatening to curtail personal choice and freedom — just like Justin Trudeau.
The Liberals are claiming that Poilievre is a lifelong politician who worships at the altar of the free market, even though he has never made payroll himself; that he is a leader who will undermine the Bank of Canada, attack the media, end international aid and allow the planet to burn — just like Trump.
It won’t be an edifying spectacle. But it is democracy in action and we should all be grateful for that.
National Post
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