Tasha Kheiriddin: Carney should be careful. We all know what happens to Trudeau’s friends

It’s not clear yet which Carney is to Trudeau – or Trudeau to Carney

Published Sep 10, 2024  •  3 minute read

Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney listens during a session at last year's World Economic Forum in Davos, January 17, 2023. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images/File

As if former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney’s resume wasn’t long enough, he has added a new title: Special Advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On Monday, Trudeau appointed him as Chair of a Leader’s Task Force on Economic Growth, to “develop new ideas for the next phase of Canada’s strategy for near-and longer-term economic growth and productivity.” Carney will hold “meetings and events to hear ideas from Canadians in the weeks and months ahead” including “foremost experts in the business community, labour movement, Indigenous economic leadership, innovators, and more.” He will then report on these to the Leader and Liberal Party Platform Committee. 

Article content

Carney’s appointment has added to the long-running speculation of a possible leadership run. At first blush, the gig is the best of both worlds: cohabitation without commitment. An induction into the Liberal fold, positioning him for other things. According to Trudeau, “Mark’s unique ideas and perspectives will play a vital role in shaping the next steps in our plan to continue to grow our economy and strengthen the middle class, and to urgently seize new opportunities for Canadian jobs and prosperity in a fast-changing world.” 

But Carney should be careful. What is a special advisor? It’s not a royal commissioner. It’s not a cabinet minister. And it’s definitely not a candidate. It’s an amorphous title that implies authority but not accountability – unless the Prime Minister wants it to.

Trudeau has appointed special advisors before. Erstwhile McKinsey Chair Dominic Barton helmed his economic task force in 2017, and “special rapporteur” David Johnston penned a report on foreign interference in 2023.  Barton did well: McKinsey got a whack of contracts from the federal government. Johnston, unfortunately, got whacked, forced to resign after his report was decried as a whitewash. 

Article content

Article content

Which is Trudeau’s style: using people for his own purposes. We learned this back in the SNC Lavalin days, when Trudeau bigfooted former Justice Minister Jody Wilson Raybould and let his Principal Secretary and long-time friend Gerry Butts take the fall for his misdeeds.   

Now it’s the cabinet’s turn. Despite her cheery tweet welcoming Carney, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland must be fuming.  After four years in that portfolio as well as five years as deputy Prime Minister, she has now been told that Carney’s ideas, not hers, will take the country forward.  Treasury Board President Anita Anand must also be seething. In late August she announced the creation of a federal working group to examine Canada’s low economic productivity. But what’s the point if Carney is going to be examining the same thing? 

Between bringing in Carney, shunting ministers aside, and potentially replacing the NDP with the Bloc Quebecois as his new dance partner, one thing is clear: Trudeau will do anything to stay in power. Cynics say keep your friends close and enemies closer. It’s not clear yet which Carney is to Trudeau – or Trudeau to Carney.  

Article content

If things don’t work out between the two, Trudeau can blame Carney and poison his future leadership chances. And by taking this appointment, Carney will have to assume the baggage of this government. Which he already has when he praised a party under whose watch Canadians’ standard of living has taken a nosedive, saying that “Canada’s Liberals have achieved real progress for all Canadians. With a winning growth plan, we can build the strongest economy in the G7 and an even better future for all.” 

No doubt Carney wants to make a better future for Canadians, but he needs to read the room. A listening tour with the same blue-chip voices that have been talking for years won’t cut it. It won’t make a better future for Canadians, the government, or Carney either.

If Carney has greater ambitions than just advising the Liberals, he should listen to the “common sense Canadians” the Conservatives are successfully courting, deliver Trudeau advice the PM doesn’t like, and then publicly break with him when he rejects it. And after Trudeau loses the election, toss his hat in the ring to replace him with a big fat “I told you so.”

Postmedia News

Tasha Kheiriddin is Postmedia’s national politics columnist.

Article content