'An Unelected Technocrat'

Introducing Canada's new Prime Minister

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Canadians woke up this morning to an extraordinary state of affairs. A man who has never held office — a man who The New York Times today described as “an unelected technocrat” — has won the leadership of the Liberal Party, and is poised to become our next Prime Minister.

Harvard and Oxford educated central banker and financier Mark Carney won the leadership race with 85.9% of the votes from Liberal Party members, and subsequently delivered a speech to a room of party loyalists. What he did not do was any significant mainstream media interviews, let alone any with adversarial independent outlets. What are we to make of his mischaracterization of his involvement with Paul Martin’s balancing of the budget? About potential conflicts of interest? About his role in Brookfield moving its headquarters to New York City? Not to mention his banning of disfavoured journalists from events?

In avoiding press scrutiny, Carney reinforces the impression that he’s not just unelected but unaccountable.

The dominant narrative in the media is that Carney’s win signals a major comeback for the Liberal Party, which has been polling poorly for many months. According to conventional wisdom, the party now stands a chance to win the next federal election.

But there’s a number of reasons to be skeptical.

Despite the unifying nature of external threats from the Trump administration, the “rally around the flag” effect is likely to be temporary. The reality is that Canada’s internal troubles won’t be overshadowed for long. We face numerous domestic crises, from the cost of living and immigration to housing, all of which exert pressure on voters’ daily lives.

We cannot forget, either, that we are in a populist moment, both in this country and abroad. Profound anger at the elites that failed ordinary working people is not likely to evaporate overnight. Carney very much belongs to the establishment. He is deeply embedded in the same class that allowed many of the above-mentioned Canadian crises to spiral out of control. There is no evidence, so far, that he rejects the policies that got us here, or has fresh ideas to dig us out of the mess that we’re in.

It’s worth noting, too, that Carney’s win is not as representative of public opinion as we’re being encouraged to believe. The vote count apparently numbered just over 150,000. The minimum age for the vote was 14. There was no fee associated with voting for the leader of the Liberal Party, and one could be a permanent resident. Drawing broader conclusions about the coming election based on last night’s win would be unwise.

Radio host Greg Brady asked this morning on the Toronto Today show — I was a guest panelist on its Think Tank segment — about similarities to the dynamic south of the border in the last U.S. election. It’s absolutely worth recalling that in the wake of President Biden’s unpopularity, Kamala Harris was anointed the Democratic candidate. She subsequently received a bump in the polls. But when it came time for votes to be cast in the presidential election, the actual will of the people became clear.

That, of course, is how democracy works.

The Liberal Party has long paid lip service to the importance of democracy, and it did so again last night. Justin Trudeau, our outgoing prime minister, warned that we must continue to be vigilant in protecting it, because “democracy is not a given.”

One hopes that Carney lives up to these ideals — and calls an election immediately.