Mark Carney thinks he’s a Big Man.
The former Bank of England governor is bigger and better than all of us. Especially reporters and media he doesn't agree with. That’s why he thinks he’s got what it takes to be the next Prime Minister of Canada.
He portrays himself as a ‘man of the people’.
But he had to hide behind the plaid skirt of a 20-year old to avoid taking questions from a pair of Western Standard reporters at his so-called ‘press availability’ in Calgary Tuesday night.
I politely introduced myself. She didn’t give her name; her hands were shaking when she told us we weren’t “registered” on the media list obviously expecting a boogie man or an ogre.
I asked her to kindly check the list again. I had an invite, could we speak to someone in charge?
I produced a letter the Carney team had sent our British Columbia bureau. But seeing as how our BC bureau chief was in Vancouver, he obviously couldn’t make it.
She nervously agreed and started texting to someone unknown.
Could we hang on for a second?
Of course.
While we waited I complimented her on her ‘Canada’ rugby jersey and asked how she got involved with the Carney campaign. She’d been a student studying in Ottawa and wasn’t old enough to vote in the last election.
I happened to see a picture of her dog on her phone. ‘He’s cute…’ and told her about mine, a Shitzu named Molly. She blushed.
I nodded to MSM alumni from the Calgary Herald who were on the list as she let them pass. And waited. I've been doing this for 25 years, my entire adult life. No shame here.
I pointed out the plainclothes cops that were hovering to my colleague, Jen Hodgson who was duly recording the proceedings.
“How do you know they’re cops?” she whispered. “Oh, I know,” I said.
All the while I struck up pleasant conversation with the hangers on while we supposedly waited for Carney’s press people to arrive. All the while I knew what was going on behind the scenes. I told Jen they'd make us wait until the last minute and get someone else to show us the door.
Sure enough, the other media media began to file into the hall while we were told to keep waiting. And waiting. They hoped we'd just leave.
I asked to speak with Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal who was my partner’s daughter’s soccer coach before he became poisoned by bogus Liberal ideology. We’ve met; last time he talked about his daughter who is also taking classes in Ottawa and how lucky he is to see her when he’s flying back and forth. For that one minute — barley weeks ago — he seemed genuine.
I saw him in the back and waved. He ignored me. Again, all you need to know.
Politics at the end of the day is about relationships, George. Something you forgot when you became an MP and caught the ‘Ottawa Disease’.
But no, George wouldn’t see me. According to three south Asian bouncers that informed us it was a “private event” and we were being asked to leave. In fact, George was asking me to leave, they said.
The plainclothes cop moved to the door and motioned to the exit. To 'wait' outside. In the cold. I know what that look meant. The Rebel reporter joked she was in the sights of the Prime Minister’s snipers at Stampede. No biggie.
The thugs noticed Jen filming and asked why we didn’t want to leave? Why were we making such a big deal about... nothing?
I said Mr. Carney is running to be Prime Minister and that it’s important that people know where he stands on important national issues. They agreed.
I explained I’ve covered Prime Minister Trudeau’s press pool on multiple occasions without issue and found him to be quite amicable even if we don’t agree on issues.
That much is true. For all his faults, Trudeau will answer a question he doesn’t agree with. Yes, he travels with a tactical team and reporters are sniffed by dogs, but he isn’t afraid to face the media. Or take the heat. Even if his bodyguards pack heat.
I’ve also had positive interactions with Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, although it’s clear we’re both cut from separate cloth.
Whatever differences we have I can honestly say I respect that much.
Carney? He’s a coward.
In the end it was left for the red-headed girl in glasses to show us the door. “They left it to you,” to kick us out, I said. The Big Man. The Rhodes scholar. Holier than thou. Holier than her.
“Welcome to the world of politics.”
She shrugged and smiled, almost blushing. I smiled too, because she’s braver than he is. By far.
That’s all you need to know about Mark Carney. Everything else — pompous pronouncements, bogus policy platitudes, his fake working class upbringing in Edmonton — is meaningless. It's all for show.
And to be frank, I could care less. They mercifully set me free. It was the last place I wanted to be.
But WS readers already knew.
