What Mark Carney might have said to Justin Trudeau: an imagined conversation

My guess: the recent conversation between Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney as the PM tries to woo the former Bank of Canada governor to join the Liberal party.

I took a bit of a risk with this week’s Toronto Star column, and pretended to be the proverbial fly on the wall during the most recent meeting between PM Justin Trudeau and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM:TSX) Chairman Mark Carney.

For months now, Mr. Carney’s name has been among those cited as a potential candidate for the federal Liberal leadership — provided Mr. Trudeau creates an opening prior to the next election. You may have missed a media story last year about an Ottawa-area MP stepping down to make room for Mr. Carney to run in a by-election, which came as a surprise to the MP in question, who didn’t seem aware of the scheme. You likely saw The Star’s June piece, where my colleague Althia Raj’s sources told her that things might be brewing between Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Carney, which I thought made no sense for the latter (see prior post “Is it time for Trudeau to throw a Hail Flutie pass?” June 29-24.

More recently, the Globe’s Robert Fife and Marieke Walsh reported that Mr. Trudeau spent part of a Sunday trying to recruit Mr. Carney to some undefined role in his government. Despite the well-sourced (four!) media leaks surrounding the JT/MC session, we didn’t get any details about Mr. Carney’s views on the matter — beyond that he wisely demurred.

As such, it fell to me to speculate on his side of the conversation…. I’ve posted the first half of the column below; if you want to see how it ends, readers of my Substack can now subscribe via a special discount code: www.thestar.com/informed.

In light of U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to put his country first, the Ottawa Press Gallery really should have pushed for more details regarding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent tête-à-tête with putative Liberal Saviour Mark Carney. I wasn’t in the room, but having worked with politicians and businessfolk for the past 35 years, it’s easy to speculate on what was said. Here’s how I imagine the conversation might have gone.

Trudeau: “Thanks for making the time to meet on a Sunday. We didn’t get the result we wanted in that Toronto byelection. It’s clear that we have much more work to do.”

Carney: “You’ve had a great run, but Canadians are frustrated. People expect results after eight years, not more promises.”

Trudeau: “Our message isn’t getting through, and Katie thinks that it might help turn things around if you’d lace up your skates and join us on the ice.”

Carney: “I was surprised to see Seamus O’Regan step down from Cabinet last week. If one of your oldest friends isn’t sticking around, shouldn’t I take the hint?”

Trudeau: “If you’re serious about leading the Liberal party someday, you need to win a seat and join our caucus. It didn’t go well for the last guy who tried to swoop-in from abroad.”

Carney: “You mean Michael Ignatieff’s 2006 leadership run? Do you really think a modern version of Stéphane Dion would beat me today?”

Trudeau: “You’ve been popular on the Liberal BBQ circuit this summer, but an Abacus poll showed that 93 per cent of Canadians don’t recognize your face. You won’t get traction if you just continue to kick the tires, and there’s no higher calling than public service.”

Carney: “Public service? I left Goldman 20 years ago to work in Ottawa, and I’m currently the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance.”

Trudeau: “That might have gotten you an invitation to the Royal Box at Wimbledon, but it doesn’t resonate with those Canadians who can’t make ends meet.”

Carney: “We both know that I have a great setup at the moment.”

Trudeau: “Oh, I’ve heard the whispers about you pulling-in seven figures, but you can’t help me beat Pierre Poilievre from a suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London, England. If we don’t stop him, he’ll undo everything that we’ve done to fight climate change.”

Carney: “Some might say that you’ve not done enough, like your decision to remove the carbon tax on home heating oil in the Maritimes. It undercut the premise of putting a price on pollution.”

Hit the link to read the rest of the piece.

MRM

(this post, like all blogs, is an Opinion Piece)