Bronwyn Eyre is the former Saskatchewan Minister of Justice and Attorney GeneralAs the Liberal nomination unfolds, and with Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney officially in the race, we’re about to witness a lot of over-the-top effusiveness about the “whip smart,” philosopher king/queen creds of the two front-runners. Both are used to being fêted and fawned over: Freeland, for her “minister of everything” status — until last summer, when Trudeau chief of staff Katie Telford disparaged her communications skills, a burn that set in motion her fall from PMO grace. Carney, the new ‘It Kid’ — who’s rebranded himself a political “outsider“ and legit Edmontonian — has been compared looks-wise to Don Draper, called “very witty” on the Daily Show, and is prone to tortured metaphors such as: “We will not remind market participants of the many oaths they swore…nor do we expect scores of financiers to join religious orders. However, we do expect those fevered battlefield vows to be respected through daily peacetime concern for and contributions to building a better, more resilient financial system.”Carney once said about his childhood nicknames: “They were “variants of my last name…so I was called ‘Carnival’ or ‘Carnage’ ... I liked Carnage better. It seemed more manly.” His UN-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance, designed to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for climate initiatives, has clearly been more Carnage than Carnival. Now, major banks (including CIBC, TD and BMO just last week) — sensing the Trump zeitgeist — are bailing in droves. Mr. Carnage is Trudeau Redux. The new Mr. Carbon Tax. At his leadership launch last week — as the teleprompter failed him — he said the tax should be replaced, but with “something at least, if not more, effective.” Yikes. The usual flim-flam economics followed: “Effectiveness is not just about lowering emissions, but ensuring that Canadian households are made whole in terms of their finances.” Except for his apparently plagiarized campaign logo, Carney meshes perfectly with the Trudeaupian brand: the Occupy Wall Street protests were “entirely constructive.” The Freedom Convoy was an “insurrection.” And child-environmentalist Greta Thunberg, whom he’s met “several times,” “illuminates very obvious truths which are not fully understood…and absolutely catalyzes the movement. I see myself as part of that social movement.”It would be economic carnage — make that unmitigated disaster — if he made it first past the post in the next election. “A poor general”A Freeland win, meanwhile, would signify a serious case of historical revisionism. Following her resignation, there were lots of kudos and gush — not to mention standing Os — for her sudden discovery of austerity and desire to keep our “fiscal powder dry, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.” What a shame the dry powder and “eschewing of costly political gimmicks” didn’t come a decade ago.Let’s not forget that she was literally hours away from delivering a Fall Economic Statement — her Fall Economic Statement — underpinned by a mega-deficit of $62 billion and reckless billions in new spending. The deficit alone grew by $45 billion more than was projected — by her — just eight months ago. If Freeland had a “political gimmick” problem with $4 billion in Santa cheques, what about the other $20 billion?For years, the media have allowed her to get away with pretending to be fiscally conservative — and with bromides that she is governed by “prudent, dispassionate economic calculus” (2020) and is “fiscally responsible” (after the federal budget rose by almost $10 billion in 2023). She got the credit for “good news,” such as national daycare — after all, “no funding, no program” (Globe and Mail) — but never had to wear the bad news (funding but no program.) Examples: the Green Slush Fund ($150 million and counting), ArriveCan ($80 million and counting), and the Strategic Innovation Fund ($2.3 billion and counting.)Where Freeland was concerned, even bad news was good news. “Chrystia Freeland comes bearing good news” went one headline after 1) Canada’s deficit had ballooned more than any G20 nation, 2) we had the highest unemployment rate in the G7, and 3) investment and productivity were in free fall. Over the years, she’s also increasingly flirted with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) — favoured by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — whose guiding philosophy is that governments shouldn’t be constrained by revenues, should run larger deficits if “inflation is under control,” and print money as necessary to spend, spend, spend.If Freeland “[wasn’t] advocating that Canada have a fling” with MMT, what the heck was she doing? “It’s unfair to saddle the next generation with our debt,” she said during the COVID era, “but it would be worse to bequeath them a weak economy.” Lucky us! We got both!“It’s a poor general who fights the last war,” she also said. “But the reality is that today, the prevailing global economic environment is changed entirely.”In Canada, that environment has changed overwhelmingly for the worse.Let neither of these poor generals be allowed to fight another day.Bronwyn Eyre is the former Saskatchewan Minister of Justice and Attorney General
