On Political Carnage and Mark Carney

While the political crisis in Ottawa has unfolded, I have been reading Fichte’s “Addresses to the German Nation” (1807), which delivered national consciousness-raising to Germans following the defeat of Prussia by Napoleon at the Battle of Jena.  This sort of scenario might sound familiar to Canadians who are facing a 25% tariff threat by the incoming Trump administration if we don’t do more to limit the illegal aliens crossing the border from Canada to the USA.  Trump, as we know, has even mocked Trudeau as the “governor” of the 51^st state., and so on.

Canadians are in a moral panic – and everyone is pointing their fingers at Justin Trudeau.  Last Friday, he told Chrystia Freeland via Zoom that she would no longer be Finance Minister, but she was expected to deliver the Fall Budget nonetheless.  A miscalculation on the part of Trudeau, perhaps, but no one acknowledges that she was not being removed from her post as Deputy Prime Minister.  On top of that she was offered the alternative responsibility of handling Canada-US relations – in other words, Trump. Who could ask for more?  Does Chrystia Freeland not have a political ego, too, and is she not letting Canadians know about it?  I, for one, have never been fond of Freeland and her pedantic manner: it’s as if she were the kindergarten teacher, and we are all her pupils.

The last time the Canadian nation was in a moral panic was at the discovery of the unmarked graves at the former Indian residential school in Kamloops, B.C.  The news ricocheted around the world, Canadian flags were at half mast seemingly endlessly, and there was tremendous soul searching.  How could such things happen in Canada, many wondered, as if this were “news”.  What did Trudeau do: he appointed our first Indigenous Governor General, Mary Simon.  Unfortunately, she knew little French, owing in part to circumstances and language rules at the time, having been born Indigenous in what was then Quebec.  Nonetheless she was greeted in English Canada as if Trudeau had pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

Can Trudeau pull a rabbit out of the hat once again?  In light of all the political carnage we have witnessed under Justin Trudeau’s terms of office, this seems unlikely.  His flavour has passed.  Dominic LeBlanc was named Finance Minister in Freeland’s absence, but he should be considered a stopgap measure.  If he remains in that office, then Justin Trudeau should step down because LeBlanc represents the kind of thing the Trump administration relies on: Dominic used to babysit Trudeau the Younger, when Romeo LeBlanc (the Elder) and Pierre Trudeau were in government together.  Justin Trudeau would appear simply to be too reliant on family connections to run a government.  This is aside from Dominic LeBlanc’s inexperience with Finance.

If Mark Carney steps up to the plate and takes on the role as Finance Minister, he would put some wind in the Liberal party sails, but, as it stands now, the Trudeau government is something of a ship wreck.  Carney has vast experience as Governor of the Bank of Canada (during the Great Recession of 2007 and 2008) and Governor of the Bank of England (during Brexit!).  Clearly a man of talent, who has a recent book out (Chrystia’s is forthcoming), he has zero experience as an elected representative, and here the Liberal Party might be revisiting its Michael Ignatieff moment, which was certainly a failed - and most undesirable - venture.  Carney, at least, merits more attention than Ignatieff ever did.

If Mark Carney doesn’t in the end accept Trudeau’s invitation as Finance Minister, he will be sinking the Trudeau government, as well as his own ambitions, as, by implication, he would be demonstrating an inability to play as a team.  He could leave Trudeau twisting in the wind, and I figure not many in the Liberal Party would appreciate that, as well as other concerned Canadians. We all know Carney wants only one job, Trudeau’s.  But there will be no pieces to pick up following Trudeau’s eventual departure, one way or another.  Carney needs to get his feet wet now, not wait for the polished photo-op.  If Carney doesn’t grasp the gravity of the moment – of a listless government having to confront an unstable Trump administration and its tariffs - then he is not worthy of a future in Canadian politics.  Time to answer the call, Mr. Carney, and begin speaking to the country.