Mark Carney has been Prime Minister of Canada for more than seven months – in politics, that represents several lifetimes.
So, the past few months have given us lots of time to learn about the political strengths and weaknesses of the former banker.
His main strengths are obvious: he’s intelligent, he’s experienced, he’s calm, and he’s not Justin Trudeau or Donald Trump.
But Carney’s personal shortcomings have become evident, too. There are five. Arrogance; under-delivering; contradictions; fuzziness; Ottawa-washed. All five weaknesses were seen in his Wednesday night State of the Union-style speech to the nation (which reminded us of another failing: he has a fetish for glitzy American-style governance.)
My take, as a former speechwriter to a guy who became prime minister: much of the speech reads like a first-year university history lecture. But much of it tells a story – about the man.
Arrogance
Arrogance, conceit, solipsism, condescension – whatever you call it, it all represents the thing that always defeats Liberals. In his 3,000-word and too-long speech, Carney showed flashes of that: on the future, Carney actually said he and his government are “going to give it back to you.”
Really? We don’t have a future unless and until Mark Carney “gives” us one? The forthcoming budget, meanwhile, “will be abo … winning.” Charlie Sheen might approve of that sort of mission statement, but history is littered with the metaphorical remains of politicians who promised “winning” – and then only delivered the opposite.
Ottawa-washed
It’s a Preston Manning neologism, but it’s apt. If a politician spends too much time in the nation’s capital – and Carney has lived and worked there, off and on, for many years – they start to speak in incomprehensible acronyms and jargon. They start lapsing into bureaucrat-speak – and nothing shows a leader to be more out of touch than that. Examples were plentiful.
“Hinge moments,” Carney actually said. “Empower Canadians.” And, “We will build inclusively” (um, what?). And, “catalyse unprecedented investments.” (That’s how you can tell Carney was personally involved in writing the speech – he uses the British-ism “catalyse” so much, his campaign manager named his lobby firm that.)
Contradictions
Carney contradicts himself on our relationship with the Yanks – sometimes even in the same sentence. He won the election by promising to stand up to the United States, but since then, he’s done quite a bit of standing down. Example: “Our relationship with the United States will never be the same as it was, even though … we have the best trade deal of any country.” Well, which is it? Never the same, or the best in the world? Pick a lane, sir.
Similarly, Carney decreed that “now is not the time to be cautious because fortune favours the bold” – which is a cliché, and which is completely contradicted by Carney’s abject refusal to get his much-publicized elbows back up, even when provincial premiers like Doug Ford are calling for it.
Elsewhere, Carney pledged that “we will build in solidarity with workers.” That will be news to Canada Post workers, who – as Carney himself says, just a few paragraphs later – are “losing $10 million a day.” If that’s “solidarity,” we can only imagine what “disunity” looks like.
Under-delivering
Carney’s speech was awash with lots of “we must be bold” and “will will play to win” and “Canada has what the world wants” and “take control of our future,” and so on and so on. There was lots of that.
But it all reminded us of a key Carney weakness – he over-promises and under-delivers. He is positively Justin Trudeau-esque in his fondness for sizzle over steak, and it is getting increasingly difficult to ignore. On trade, on tariffs, on Trump – the things Carney promised, back in the Spring, simply haven’t happened. He’s under-delivered.
Could that change after a budget the PMO is promising will be historic? It could. “This moment has revealed the limits to our economic independence,” Carney said, presumably referring to Trump. So, he said, “we must change how we do some things.” Sure. Yes. Of course. But will he?
Fuzziness
To be fair, Mark Carney hasn’t been a politician for a long time – but he’s a quick learner. The Liberal Prime Minister, like many prime ministers, is hard to pin down – he recalls the proverbial Jello on the wall. His speech was chockablock with such fuzziness. Reading it, listening to it, you can’t tell if he’s for or against deficits, immigration, workers, pipelines, or a raft of other things. You can’t tell if he wants to cudgel Trump, or cuddle him.
His speech was a masterpiece of fuzziness, then, with (um) liberal helpings of arrogance, contradictions and failed promises.
One can only hope that his big budget will do a lot better.
Because he, and we, need to.
