I have finally done it. Due to my travels, I had to vote early as will be in Central Asia on election day and tough to mail in ballot from there. And this time I voted for the Liberals lead by Mark Carney. And of all the elections I have voted in federally in last 25 years (2000 was my first), this was most important vote and one I felt most proud about. Below I will explain why I voted the way I did and debunk the common criticisms people make of those voting Liberal. I believe Conservatives are badly misreading public and going to suffer a very bad defeat and won’t win again until make radical changes.
With Trump’s threat of tariffs and annexation, we are in an unpredictable world where lots of unexpected things can happen. Unlike most elections where platform matters; this one I care more about who is in charge and their judgement vs. platform. Since so many unknowns, I expect no matter who wins many aspects of platform will never see light of day. So with that in mind my vote was on who I felt had experience and best judgement to lead us. Mark Carney has both the experience and the judgement to lead us. He headed Bank of Canada during Great recession and Bank of England during Brexit. And in both cases, both countries came out better than expected. And while not only reason, he definitely help. This shows he understands how modern economies work and will make decisions based on what works best, not ideology as we all too often saw with Trudeau. Carney is a major change from Trudeau and the right change.
I also feel Pierre Poilievre even in best of times is a bad choice and right now would be a major mistake. He is still a high school frat boy type who loves to act like a pit bull but cannot lead a country without being divisive in these tough times. All parties need pit bulls but they should be backbenchers not leader. Liberals have Mark Gerretsen as example of this and I would not support him as Liberal leader for same reason. Likewise unlike Mark Carney who has an impressive resume; Pierre Poilievre is a career politician who only was a junior cabinet minister under Harper. And when was cabinet minister; only bill he introduced was the misnamed Fair Elections Act which was designed to make voting harder and in end had to be watered down due to backlash and its violation of charter. Someone who messes around with right to vote is someone I will not vote for. He is also an ideologue who talks about small government and while in some areas we clearly do need less government; we live in a complex world where its not about simply bigger government as Trudeau favoured or smaller as Poilievre does. Instead it is about going on what works and what doesn’t which is something Carney understands. While not all of Poilievre’s policies are bad ideas; Carney has shown himself to be a pragmatist and willing to adopt ones that make sense. But some like defunding CBC and reversing gun bans are examples of policies I hope never see light of day. Likewise hanging out with Convoy crowd is a disqualifier. There are certain extreme organizations both on right and yes left too (like pro-Hamas ones) that no politician should associate with. Also many of his rabid supporters are hateful, nasty, believe in conspiracy theories, and hold extreme views. Types of people you attract says a lot about who you are. Fact many of those hated O’Toole was a plus for me as quite frankly I wish they would go create their own far right party and stay out of mainstream ones. They add zero value to our political discourse.
Now I know the criticism I will hear from many and I want to address those and why I still believe even with those in mind voting Liberal is best option right now. Off course in 2029 if Carney disappoints I can go elsewhere.
- Last 10 years have been a disaster and we need change: We got change with Trudeau resigning and focus needs to be on who can best deal with things in next four years, not litigate over how past 10 years governed which is over.
- Carney will continue to lead to declining standards of living: I believe notwithstanding global challenges, quite the opposite. Trudeau has very little understanding of economics which was one of his biggest flaws and too ideological. But Carney is not like that
- Its boomers screwing over young people again: I am actually a millennial/Gen X being born in 1981 so not a boomer and idea we must vote conservative to help younger generations is silly. Poilievre doesn’t have a serious plan while Carney will make economy stronger which will help younger generations.
- Alberta & Saskatchewan will separate if Carney wins: I believe that is mostly bluster and very unlikely. But lets say for sake of argument it did happen; I don’t believe we should be forced to vote for a politician we disagree with due to some fake threat. Most pushing this are people with very right wing views who are just a bunch of whiners when cannot get their way. While Alberta & Saskatchewan may lean right; most are still proud Canadians never mind both have many centrists and progressives.
- Carney is a leftist: Carney may be open to progressive ideas but he is a pragmatist. And whether left leaning or right leaning, right now we need someone with a deep understanding of economics and a pragmatist
- He has same people in Trudeau government: This is a bit of concern but many are not running again and undoubtedly there will be new faces. Now largely the same as he can only choose from people in caucus. Once election is over I suspect you will see more new faces.
So I have voted and hopefully as campaign continues I will be pleased with who I voted. Likewise if Carney wins as I expect, I will take an open mind and criticize him where I disagree and support where I agree. He got my vote this time, but 2029 will have to earn it. Likewise Conservatives after they lose need to dump Poilievre and finally get the message that right wing populism just doesn’t sell in Canada. I get some in base may not like it, but they need to accept reality that no matter how bad things are or spun; Canadians will never vote for that type of government.
afiscalconservativepointofview 
So as often is the case, I think you have nailed it in many respects about Carney vs. PP to lead our country in these very chaotic times. A few things I would like to add are:
At least some of the economic woes we are undergoing today are the outfall from COVID which every country, no matter how they managed the pandemic, has suffered to some degree. One can endlessly argue on what might have been managed better economically during the world’s first global pandemic of such devastating proportions in modern times. But in my opinion, only those scientists and public health experts and health system leaders and politicians who had to make the hard calls every day can really knowledgably speculate on how many bullets Canada dodged by managing as we did in Canada. And we can only figure out what we should do different in such a global crisis by respecting and learning from each other, not shaming and blaming each other as PP and many of his followers are so happy to do. Carney sets a respectful collegial tone.
PP has thus far reiterated time and again that there is nothing different that he needs to do in his campaign, despite his falling poll results and feedback from some in his party that his current tack is not working for a changed time. This indicates precisely the rigidity in him that makes him unsuitable to dealing intelligently with the likes of a sociopath like Trump. A confident leader can adapt his tack when times call for it, without losing his principles or advantage. That is not PP at least as far as he has shown himself so far.
PP has no original thinking – a cardinal sign of a mediocre leader who is not fit for extraordinary times. “Canada First” – a pathetic copycat slogan that echoes Trump’s “America First” reflects an isolationist mindset that will hobble us in the times ahead. “Canada Strong” leaves room for putting Canada first when we need to, but also room to work with other countries as much as possible to create the strongest future for us all. Most Americans recognize that Trump is taking them down a bad road in destroying alliances and starting a tariff war. The last thing we need to do is sing out of any part of Trump’s playbook.
PP has not shown a penchant, much less a talent, for building relationships across Canada, even with all the Conservative leaders. It is incredible that he only called Doug Ford for the first time a few weeks ago. It shows an appalling lack of leadership that he has not nurtured even those ties. How on earth would he fare with other leaders within Canada and across the world who differ with him on policy? Attack-attack-attack is not a strategy – it is a weakness when it is your only key. Carney can be tough as nails when he has to be, but he has also made visible efforts to build relations with every premier already, even the few that want to tear him down like Alberta’s DS, and has established relations across our allies from his previous roles as well as his current one.
Lastly for today, I think it is a huge mistake to under-estimate the danger of Trump’s narcissistic sociopathy, and the importance of having a leader here at home who has successfully dealt with those types of characters throughout his career. That leader is Carney, not PP. It is already clear that Trump knows that by how his nasty rhetoric came down a notch after Carney was sworn in as PM. The last thing we need to do now is switch horses when we have already seen progress, however minor, in the way he speaks to Carney (calling him PM) versus his treatment of Trudeau. Trump is no genius but he recognizes Carney is the real deal. He would be overjoyed if a novice negotiator like PP wins – which is why that must not happen.
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Largely agree and the attack dog is not what you want in leader. They all have their places in every party so not saying someone like Poilievre doesn’t have a role, but he needs to be the Mark Gerretsen for Conservatives not leader.
And fact won’t change is a real problem as right now we need someone who can pivot as circumstances change which Poilievre so far has not.
I do hope after fourth loss party learns but not so optimistic. Had O’Toole still been leader would have been a lot tougher choice as both him and Carney I think would be good prime-ministers. O’Toole maybe lacks economic expertise Carney has, but on military knows a lot which is quite important with today’s geopolitical world and would likely have a good finance minister. Whereas Poilievre has no real world experience and it shows.
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I am sorry Miles, but your predictions are the absolute worst. Stick to your day job!
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