Where's the beef?
Certainly, there is none to find in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s nothingburger list of major projects. Surprisingly well received given none of the projects need federal involvement, this is one more step to deceptively finesse Canadians.
How so?
An example is presenting Train 2 of the LNG Canada project as a major accomplishment. Hardly, as several Trains have always been contemplated to amortize the expensive pipeline, liquefaction, and loading facilities ALREADY built and operating. Approval of the second Train, recently received from British Columbia to utilize natural gas (for liquefaction of raw gas into LNG), requires little or no involvement of the new major projects bureaucracy.
Prime Minister Carney is attempting to ride horses galloping in opposite directions. One of, if not the leading “climate crisis” global leaders, his deep and lengthy history, and his book, reveal his preference for “human values” over “market values.”
By that he means imposing his values on all Canadians. He could and should have removed the layers of legislation and regulation that obstruct pipelines and other potential major projects and allow the free market to do what it does best — build.
Instead, the authoritative Prime Minister passed Bill C-5 which gives him unfettered power to override ANY OTHER LEGISLATION. As it is undemocratic for one person to decide which legislation in place should be ignored, what private capital will risk the unfettered power of a climate crusader?
Capital investment depends on trust, long since broken in Canada; a poisoned well is difficult to remediate.
Meanwhile, other issues need leadership.
Economic deterioration accelerates — in July the economy lost 41,000 jobs, in August 74,000 jobs, and unemployment increased to 7.1%, 14% for young Canadians. US tariffs are damaging long-established steel, aluminum, and automobile industries. Retaliation to Chinese EV imports is ravaging the unique and valuable canola agriproducts and prospects for Western farm producers.
The country awaits, with trepidation, this year's budget to be presented in early November. November — really?
Our slick Prime Minister promised Canadians urgency and “elbows up” to Trump and his tariffs. His self-description wasn’t humble. Carney said, “I understand these things better than others” and “I know the President…and I know how to negotiate.” It appears no one told the US President.
These are not easy challenges, and the new Prime Minister has brought a calm and serious tone to the PMO. But after six months and much braggadocio, what has been accomplished other than a dramatic increase in spending, a deteriorating economy, a delayed budget, and a dangerous grasp for power?
These pages have persistently warned about the irreconcilable dilemma facing our ambitious and power-crazed Prime Minister.
It is hard to see a successful outcome of our Prime Minister’s game of finesse — pleasing his United Nations and European peers (and his long-held values and various leadership roles); at the same time satisfying his ego, ambition, and manifest destiny to be a successful Prime Minister of Canada. Growth in Canada, historically a petro-state, while also leading the world in emission reductions, is mutually exclusive.
As this plays out, the Prime Minister launches a challenge to the “notwithstanding clause”, a foundation of the 1982 constitutional arrangements, and without provincial consultation. As these pages have previously pointed out, our Prime Minister resembles President Trump in his top-down command approach, albeit with a much more sophisticated style. This mindset, hopefully turned down by the Supreme Court, will add to the resistance in Alberta and elsewhere to further central Canada domination.
A deeper issue, however, is the inadequacy of our parliamentary system that lacks a functional Senate. Long a fundamental issue of unfairness for Western Canadians, the risk of Canada’s future increases with an unfettered authoritarian Prime Minister. By contrast, the constitutional wisdom of the US and its separation of powers will likely mitigate the similar need of Trump for unlimited power.
What institution in Canada exists to limit our all-powerful Prime Minister? The House of Commons, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the civil service, the regulatory framework, the provinces, the Governor General — none of the above. This is not acceptable.
Carney is an intelligent and ambitious leader attempting to manage a self-made dilemma that threatens the future of Canada. Indeed, with a referendum in Alberta and another pivotal election in Quebec on the horizon, its very existence is at risk.
That’s my beef, and it has a foreboding taste.
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