Susan Riley
Susan Riley is a veteran political columnist and regular contributor to The Hill Times.
Susan Riley is a veteran political columnist and regular contributor to The Hill Times.
Voters are fed up with performative politics in this moment of global and economic disruption. So, out with the Bibles-as-props, dog whistles, personal slurs and red-faced rants; in with respectful, fact-based debate, and intelligent compromise.
Avi Lewis is unlikely to become prime minister any time soon. But the new NDP leader wants to urgently jump-start our transition from oil to green technologies with the new revenues and jobs they promise. Pragmatist-in-chief, Prime Minister Mark Carney, made similar arguments before he became a politician. These are not ‘crazy’ ideas.
Despite some blemishes on Mark Carney’s otherwise immaculate image, his personal approval ratings are off the charts. If an election were held tomorrow, the Liberals would win north of 200 seats. Here’s why.
A more restrained reaction from Mark Carney on the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran—less cheer-leading and more of the caution displayed by some European leaders—would have sat better at home.
Until Elon Musk presents Donald Trump with an all-electric, gilt-coloured Trumpmobile, our auto sector remains at the mercy of a grumpy old man’s prejudices and his fondness for supportive oil billionaires.
It isn’t that our political leaders’ concern about rising food costs isn’t genuine. It is that most lack the daring, or the sense of urgency—perhaps because they, themselves, are handsomely compensated—to move from Band-Aids, and accusations, to substantial social change.
If traditional conservative voters, and others, are looking for an effective, intelligent and nimble centre-right leader, they already have one in Mark Carney. We’ll see how long this lasts.
In retrospect, Mark Carney’s low-key approach—coupled with his tireless attempts to broaden our trade network—may prove to be the wisest course. Not as emotionally satisfying, or morally invigorating as a well-deserved profanity. But smarter.
Avi Lewis’ daring, refreshing campaign may come to nothing; end of discussion. Or maybe, if New Democrats are feeling frisky, beginning of discussion. The country could use it.
Many hoped the new prime minister would break from a timid, risk-averse, national tradition, assert our economic independence as promised, and exploit our natural resources sustainably. So far, it hasn’t looked that way.
The longer Prime Minister Mark Carney tries to play both sides of the street—and this game has been going on for decades—the farther behind we fall, environmentally and economically. He must know that.
For many Canadians, if an election would rid the country of Pierre Poilievre’s snarky social media hits, his obsessive focus on enemies, his hypocrisy—lamenting the growing number of families using food banks, while living in a taxpayer-funded mansion with chef, driver and domestic help—they could hold the election on Dec. 25.
The question: is corporate Canada ready to do its part? It certainly won’t refuse emergency funding to see it through the current uncertainty. But how able, and willing, is it to disrupt decades-old supply chains, retool its factories, and redirect its efforts away from the United States?
Whatever the outcome of the NDP leadership campaign, Avi Lewis is a lively, intelligent player who could bring confidence and colour to a lustreless party. And he is definitely a match for both Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney on a debate stage.
Mark Carney appears open to changing details, if not his overall direction, in the face of pushback, and that direction is not dictated by ideology, but by pragmatism. But he is hard to read.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is unlikely to offer any serious, fact-based critiques of the government’s shortcomings. He’s a glib man, playing in the shallows, following a shop-worn script. Always has been, always will be.