Even hardcore Liberals think Mark Carney needs improvement

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OTTAWA — Mark Carney may have been crowned leader of the Liberal party by casting himself as a political outsider, but his skills as a politician need work, say some of his supporters.

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Carney walked into an Ottawa convention centre Sunday as the presumed front-runner of the four candidates who were vying to replace Justin Trudeau as leader and prime minister.

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He left with a crushing first-ballot victory not seen by Trudeau or even Carney’s political foe in the next election: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

With Carney open to calling a snap election by mid-March, National Post spoke with nearly 20 Liberals, many of whom supported Carney, about how the two-time central banker will have to reconcile his political newcomer status with the demands of the campaign trail.

“He has room to grow, forsure,” said Liberal member Lucy Wright. “He’ll have a lot of supporters and as long as he listens to the people who are actually knowledgeable, I think he’ll do well.”

For Cathie Devries, that means putting an end to the questions Poilievre’s Conservatives have been driving about his former role at Brookfield Asset Management.

“He needs to jump on that,” she said. The (Conservative) party is trying to sow doubt. The Liberals and the party needs to do a better job explaining that.”

While Carney has tried, Devries says “some of the numbers and some of the answers don’t add up.”

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Carney said he stepped down as chairman when he launched his campaign back in January.

After one of the party’s debates, he told reporters he was not involved in the firm’s decision to move its headquarters to New York — a move the Tories are hammering, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump wants to attract companies south of the border. 

Poilievre’s office then released a letter showing Carney told shareholders to vote in favour of the move, which they say is evidence Carney had lied to Canadians. Carney later acknowledged that he should have been more “precise” in his initial explanation.

Longtime Liberal Bridget Girard pointed to the ads the Tories have already been running against Carney, labelling him as “sneaky,” as one of the challenges the new Liberal leader will face. Past Liberal leaders have struggled to recover from Conservative ad campaigns that defined them in the minds of voters.

The best way to beat what Girard characterize as the Tories’ “same old tired tricks” is for Carney to “just be genuine.” As a supporter, she expects him to speak to media more, which Carney did sparingly throughout the campaign, especially with the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

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Raymond LaFrance, who has been a Liberal supporter for the past 20 years and voted for Carney, says while he believes Carney’s economic experience makes him the right man to lead Canada as it faces the threats of tariffs and annexation from Trump, he worries about his French.

“He might come across a little bit as inexperienced,” LaFrance said, saying Carney will face much different questions as a politician than he did as a central banker.

“He’s going to be picked on, yelled at.”

Christian Nkanu, a Francophone from New Brunswick, also named Carney’s ability to speak French as an issue and a change from what the party has been used to under Trudeau.

“We can understand, but I think it’s a weakness.”

Nearly all Liberals told National Post that with the right team and more work, they believe Carney’s economic credentials will more than make up what for he lacks in politics, even when it comes to facing off against Poilievre, whose team is partly banking on Carney’s political inexperience to only help their fortunes as public opinion polls show the race to be tightening.

However, some of Carney’s supporters believe his resume is exactly what the Liberals needs to attract those who are thinking about voting for Poilievre.

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“We need people who are sitting on the border, or who may have gone to leaning Conservative because they were angry with Trudeau to come back and to come to the Liberal side to look at something more centrist,” said Donna Enwright from Haliburton, Ont., who became a Liberal party member to vote for Carney.

“And I think that’s what Mark is. He’s centre.”

Iain Munro, who heads up the party’s commission for seniors, said to appeal to more Canadians, Carney would be wise to sport a more laid back tone, as he did in his unofficial campaign launch on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

“He should be relaxed. I think he has a natural whit. I think he’s funny. He needs to sort of just allow himself to be himself.”

For others like Myrla Savet, who acknowledges she is a “little bit” worried about how Carney will fare on the campaign trail, she is banking on hope.

“Hopefully people will see that despite the fact that he does not have the political chops yet, that his expertise will carry him through.”

National Post

staylor@postmedia.com

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