Thin-skinned Carney bristles at basic media scrutiny. Is his leadership already in trouble?
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Mark Carney has been the 24th prime minister of Canada for less than a week. Although this is traditionally regarded as a honeymoon period, it has also been a rather inauspicious start that does not bode well for his political future.
Carney’s March 14 swearing-in ceremony was straightforward. The Liberal leader, a former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, unveiled a cabinet of 23 ministers plus himself. It is one of the smallest in years, although most of them served under his predecessor, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
While Canadians are largely unfamiliar with Carney, they have welcomed the change his leadership could bring in comparison to Trudeau’s near-decade of mediocrity and ineffectiveness. That has led to a significant shift in opinion polls.
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The gap between the Conservatives and Liberals had narrowed over the past month, primarily due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The new prime minister caused them to tighten even further. The Carney Liberals lead by two to five percentage points in four recent polls, whereas Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives are ahead by four to six percentage points in two others.
This initial euphoria could fizzle out early.
Carney’s relationship with the media has not started well. There were mildly tense moments during his first address outside Rideau Hall last Friday, which were largely disregarded by the media. An intense back-and-forth on Monday between Carney, the Globe and Mail’s Stephanie Levitz and CBC News Network’s Rosemary Barton was impossible to ignore. They had asked logical questions about the lack of public details related to Carney’s blind trust and possible conflicts of interest due to his years in the private sector. When Barton said she found it “very difficult to believe” there could not be any conflicts of interest, Carney told her to “look inside herself” and “you start from a prior of conflict and … ill will.”
This awkward exchange showed that Carney is incredibly thin-skinned and does not like to be challenged. He had better get used to this line of questioning, and fast. That could be a huge problem since he reportedly has a volatile personality.
Our British friends are familiar with this. Larry Elliott, a former economics editor of The Guardian, a left-wing U.K. daily, recently wrote, “There was another side to Carney’s character. Journalists sometimes caught a glimpse of his volcanic temper and Bank staff were wary of getting on the wrong side of him. As a governor he was respected but not especially liked.”
Meanwhile, there seems to be a slippery slope when it comes to Carney’s presentation of his so-called political accomplishments.
For instance, Carney said during the Liberal leadership race that he was going to abolish Trudeau’s much-maligned federal carbon tax if he became prime minister. (In spite of defending carbon offsets for years and, like most Liberals, supporting this tax up until recently.) It would be done on his first day on the job—which led to one of those mildly tense moments alluded to earlier—and was finalized that evening.
Or was it? Guy Giorno, a Conservative activist and former chief of staff to Mike Harris and Stephen Harper, identified an important discrepancy. “Whatever this is, it is not an Order in Council,” he posted on X on March 15. “An OiC is made by the GG on advice of Cabinet, not an ‘I hereby instruct’ directive signed by the prime minister.” He is right, and it puts this whole exercise into question, along with the fact that Carney plans to replace the carbon tax with an incentive system that rewards Canadians “for making greener choices.” Whatever that costs or means.
Carney also said during his uppity Monday press conference that “one of the requirements” for Canada to diversify trade with the European Union, United Kingdom and “emerging Asia” markets is to have a “form of price on carbon.” That is not accurate. There has never been a carbon tax requirement included in previous trade deals Canada has made with the EU, U.K. and Asia, and nothing has been mandated or is forthcoming. Was this thrown into the mix for Carney and the Liberals to ultimately backtrack on the decision to abolish the federal carbon tax? Let’s hope not.
Finally, there was Carney’s decision to visit France and the U.K. This short excursion seemed unnecessary and ill-advised. He has to immediately decide whether to reconvene Parliament on March 24, which could lead to an early election. Carney’s main priority should also be dealing with Trump’s tariffs rather than taking a European trip.
Right on cue, Carney got himself into hot water during his joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I want to ensure that France and the whole of Europe works enthusiastically with Canada, the most European of non-European countries,” he said. That is not accurate, either. While our country has a historical lineage to both Britain and France, there is no European influence in modern Canada other than in Quebec. The country we most closely resemble is the U.S., and that has been the case for decades. Carney’s assessment was rather odd, to put it mildly.
Will Carney get more comfortable as prime minister? Many Liberals are banking on this. It could also get much worse, which is what the Poilievre Conservatives are counting on.
Michael Taube is a political commentator, Troy Media syndicated columnist and former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics, lending academic rigour to his political insights.
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