Firstly it gives Poilievre an honest opportunity to contribute. People want to see everyone working together, so by letting Poilievre in right away he’s giving him a chance to temper the rhetoric and get work done. And if he doesn’t temper the rhetoric, it’s likely to work in Carney’s favour. If he’s seen as obstructing, it will not look good for him. It seems like a win-win-win… It looks like fair dealing, if Poilievre comes to the table honestly it works for Carney, if he doesn’t it works for Carney as well. It’s good politics that is both strategic in the way it encourages good cooperation and has good optics around fairness.
Secondly, the elephant in the room is the separation nonsense. Poilievre is running for a seat in the heart of separatist country, and with the separation rhetoric ramping up, better to have Poilievre - who is ideologically tied to Smith and will be representing Alberta - in the public eye as soon as possible, so he can wear this garbage. After all, Smith seems to be adept at causing no end of hassle for Poilievre. Best to put him front and centre as soon as possible so he is forced to respond to it.
Carney has consistently looked like the adult in the room.
Especially when he called out Justin Trudeau for imposing for his own preferred electoral system while ignoring the wishes of Canadians.
No, quite frankly not remotely.
That was him pandering because he knows that the two things people on the left complain about Trudeau for is housing and ER.
It wasn’t him actually addressing a serious topic or making a serious decision in a meaningful way.
Manufacturing perceived disagreement is politics 101. However, in this case there’s no reason to believe that Carney isn’t being sincere. I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t believe Trudeau fucked that up. Even if he knew it was domed to failure he should have gone ahead. Unless you’re predisposed to dislike Carney, there’s no reason to assume he isn’t holding the same opinion on this as everyone else. Do you know something we don’t?
I do believe Carney, I just don’t think this is an example of him being particularly more mature or adult than anyone else.
Yeah that’s fair. He’s not above politicking, in fact I’m sure his decisions weigh many factors, politics being one of them.
On the topic, I hope that the left doesn’t build a personality cult around him. He’s not particularly charismatic, he’s just a technocrat with skills that can help us. Let the man do his job without deifying him. We don’t need more populism right now, we need experts… and we sure don’t need celebrity politicians.
Agreed. If the liberals put forth a bill for electoral reform, then I’ll believe it.
Alternatively, they could let one of the NDP members create the bill and still vote in favour. That would be a great show of cooperation and good faith between parties, while also showing how minority governments could continue to work well.
“ they could let one of the NDP members create the bill and still vote in favour.” I would SO love to see that happen. I’m still pissed that the NDP didn’t use their “supply and confidence” agreement with Trudeau to force electoral reform.
If the Liberals take electoral reform it will be yet another massive Conservative fumble.