HILL: Can Carney run, and also hide?

Jay Hill was for 17 years the Reform/Conservative MP for Prince George-Peace RiverIt seems Canadians may be on the cusp of finally seeing the last of our nation’s worst prime minister ever. Given the record of some of Justin Trudeau’s predecessors, that title is quite an accomplishment. Especially for a childish, unqualified individual who has accomplished so little that was noteworthy in his lifetime.As the country prepares to move on from his nine+ years of destructive reign, there are a few things that are bothering me to the point I feel it necessary to put the hypothetical “pen to paper”.First, if the latest polls are to be believed, voters seem to be willfully ignoring the fact that Mr. Trudeau is not solely responsible for the embarrassing mess Canada has become. I shake my head in disbelief that the electorate might be so blind, naïve and uninformed that they would consider supporting any of the current Liberal party leadership candidates in a general election. How could any thinking Canadian vote for the Liberal party, or NDP, when they are the ones that created the catastrophic situation our once proud and prosperous nation finds itself in?Scandals and ethics violations too numerous to remember them all. Unaccountable spending. Runaway annual deficits producing an ever ballooning national debt. A thoroughly and deliberately gutted military. Under vetted and unsustainable levels of immigration.Inadequate healthcare.Insufficient housing. Climate change hysteria resulting in carbon taxes bankrupting Canadians. An economy on it’s knees due to bureaucratic over regulation. And those are just a few of the issues that readily come to mind!How can Canadians fail to understand that every Liberal leadership wanna-be has been involved in creating this mess? Even the alleged front runner, Mark Carney, has been an advisor to Mr. Trudeau for some time, first in the shadows and more recently in a very public advisory role. Why in heaven’s name would anyone want those that helped create this unprecedented and unmitigated ruination to be given the opportunity to continue their mismanagement? You can likewise include all the Liberal cabinet, MPs, Senators and senior staff in this list of incompetent ne’er-do-wells! All must share the blame, and shame. Secondly, I worry that Carney will call a “snap” election immediately following his March 9th predictable installation as Trudeau’s hand-picked replacement. While still in the afterglow “honeymoon” period with Canadian voters he will rightfully have plausible and defensible reasons for doing so. I’m unaware of him ever having his name on a ballot seeking election to anything, not even for school student council. Therefore, his only successful campaign to date would land him in the Prime Minister’s Office via a flawed party leadership race that was conducted under very loose rules with voters as young as 14 years of age. Ironically, an electorate choosing our nation’s prime minister rather than their class president.As well, legitimate questions are already being asked concerning Mr. Carney’s eligibility to hold the position of prime minister, unless he’s prepared to reveal his holdings and place his corporate assets in a secure blind-trust. Arguably he should have done so long ago when he first accepted a position of influence over Trudeau and his government.In addition to making all the arguments of why he requires his own mandate from Canadians, he will undoubtedly roll out his rationale of why only he “can save Canada...” Why he is the only knight in shining armour that can lead an anti-Trump crusade to defend Canada.My next concern dredges up a painful personal memory of the only election I ever lost of the seven I contested in the northern BC riding of Prince George – Peace River. Following the nationwide (particularly in western Canada) euphoria of the long desired Progressive Conservative victory of 1984, almost immediately scandal after scandal rocked Brian Mulroney’s government.After enduring years of Pierre Trudeau fundamentally and negatively trying to restructure Canadian society into his socialist utopian vision, including massive deficit spending (sound familiar?) many westerners had “had enough”! However, when Mulroney seemed to simply pick up where Trudeau Senior had left off, a growing number turned to a new western movement that grew into the Reform Party of Canada. Despite the Reform Party being less than a year old when Mulroney called the election in the fall of 1988 the anger towards his government was so widespread and visceral in Western Canada, particularly in Alberta, that we expected to do quite well.Yet it wasn’t to be. Mulroney very cleverly managed to frame the entire election campaign, and ballot question, as a referendum on free trade with the United States. He presented the Canada-USA Free Trade Agreement to Canadians (later replaced in 1994 by NAFTA) and did a masterful job of convincing voters of its merits. It wasn’t difficult in the west which had long supported free trade. He then deftly lured both the Liberals and NDP into campaigning against it. In the 72 western constituencies that Reform contested it didn’t matter a whit that we also supported the agreement as the PC candidates convinced voters not to “split the vote” and risk losing the agreement. Clearly campaigns matter. They mattered then, and they still matter now.It wasn’t until 1993 that the Progressive Conservatives finally received the electoral comeuppance they so richly deserved. It was left to Kim Campbell to pay the price with the PCs suffering the largest electoral defeat in Canadian history when they were reduced to 2 seats from a majority government of 156. Is it a coincidence that Trudeau also had nine years of scandal before becoming as reviled as Mulroney was in 1993?Could Carney resurrect Mulroney’s winning 1988 strategy? Could he possibly frame the next election as a referendum on who is best positioned to go head-to-head with US President Donald Trump? Us versus them? Either you’re with us or against us? “There is really only one choice if you’re a patriotic Canadian.” Additionally, will he reactivate the usual Liberal playbook and convince primarily Central and Eastern voters to overlook the myriad scandals, call upon their patriotism, and scornfully reject Alberta and Saskatchewan’s tariff position as greedy and not in the national interest? With assistance from the paid media could he sucker Poilievre into openly siding with Danielle Smith and Scott Moe, and then brand them all traitors?Time and again Liberals have shown that when it comes to winning, they don’t give a damn about national unity. At least not unity with the west. I would suggest that if Mr. Carney has any chance of camouflaging himself and the Liberal Party to accomplish the above, he will have to strike hard and fast.... He will have to do it before Canadians come to realize who he truly is, and the continued damage he will do to our once proud and free Canada. Jay Hill was for 17 years the Reform/Conservative MP for Prince George-Peace River.

HILL: Can Carney run, and also hide?

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