The Delusions of Governor Mark Carney
Carney can't save what ails the Liberals
Mark Carney is once again dipping his toe into the political waters. In an interview with the Globe and Mail earlier this week, Carney did not rule out a future run for the Liberal leadership, or to run for election to the House of Commons. It’s not the first time we’ve seen these musings from Carney – indeed, that toe may be more wrinkled than Bernard Lord’s – and the longer it goes on, the clearer it is he’s not the answer to what ails the Liberals.
It would be the kind of delusional, Hail Mary, attempt at self-rescue without self-reflection, that once had the Liberals assume ordinary Canadians spent their time watching BBC roundtables and reading The Rights Revolution. Mark Carney the politician, at least in his current form, is inexperienced, flawed, non-committal, and the kind of candidate Pierre Poilievre would be salivating to run against if Justin Trudeau were to take a walk in the snow.
There’s a reason every Prime Minister since Pierre Trudeau had extensive experience in politics. Justin Trudeau was an MP for five years before becoming Liberal leader, and seven before becoming Prime Minister. And he was the one criticized as a neophyte. Stephen Harper helped found a political party and won two different leadership races. Paul Martin was the most influential Finance Minister since the Second World War. Jean Chretien had decades of experience in Cabinet and Parliament. Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark had been actively involved in the PC Party since their teens. Even Kim Campbell, who had been left to tend over the ashes of the Mulroney coalition, had extensive experience. She had numerous Cabinet positions under her belt before becoming Prime Minister.
Mark Carney has none.
This lack of experience is evident in his language and communications style. It reveals flaws that go beyond this lack of experience. Little is deft about it. It’s routinely weighed down by technocratic language that manages to be muddled and sound condescending at the same time. In the same Globe piece, Carney, when asked about Poilievre’s current advantage, answers the way a banker would, not a politician.
“I’m the one in the conversation who’s actually been in business, who actually is in business, and makes decisions. I’m not a lifelong politician. You tend to see people who – often – are lifelong politicians have a very simplistic view of markets. They don’t understand how decisions are really made. They don’t understand how things are interconnected.”
It is, admittedly, hard to make priorities.
The quote reeks of defensiveness and disdain for Poilievre’s brand of politics. I can get behind the latter, but it’s the reality the Liberals are living in, and will be living in during the next election. If it’s not Trudeau leading the Liberals into the next election, they need someone willing to give Poilievre a punch in the mouth, not someone to complain to the referee that he’s being hard done by. It’s a quote that makes one wonder whether Carney has the stomach for the fight to come.
But the biggest reason to question a Carney candidacy is that he hasn’t gotten into the arena yet. He’s mused about it here and there for years but has never taken the plunge. If he wanted to, I’m sure the Liberals would have been happy to offer up a riding of his choice. And even if they weren’t, seats have opened over Trudeau’s time in office that Carney could have won, but has taken a pass on. He’s not even sure he wants to be an MP, let alone the leader or Prime Minister.
I’m not trying to mythologize politics, but there is something to be said for the sense of purpose that should drive leadership. If you want to be Prime Minister of this country, it should be a fire in your belly that you can’t ignore. If you’re not sure, the answer is no. Carney’s equivocation should be enough for rank-and-file Liberals to look elsewhere for answers in a post-Trudeau world.
Mark Carney clearly loves his country. He has issues that deeply matter to him and policy prescriptions he’d like to see implemented. He could be an excellent addition to public life. But he must actually want it and there are no shortcuts. If he wants to lead the Liberal Party someday, he should run as an MP, learn the art of politics, and build a political resumé. But, that will take time.
If the Liberals are wondering more often these days about who should replace Justin Trudeau, they need to realize there’s no quick fix, and certainly not one in the form of a former Bank Governor unsure of whether he wants the job in the first place.