It says so much that after coronating a new leader, the Liberal Party feels the best electoral strategy is to hide him from public scrutiny. Mark Carney’s first act as prime minister was to fly to Europe rather than speak to Canadians who are caught under his leadership. While citizens are trying to understand who is managing their country, the person in question is rubbing shoulders with the French president and King Charles.The optics of the move are terrible. The Liberal strategists must feel that having a newly crowned prime minister hiding in Europe is still preferable to having him face Canadians and answer questions. Just what terrifies them so much about having him in public?Upon returning from Europe, Iqaluit was Carney’s next destination. While the good people of Iqaluit deserve visits and Arctic issues are pressing, its an odd destination for a politician ostensibly heading into a federal election. Unless of course the intent is to avoid people and press. Not many outlets will spend the money to send reporters to the Arctic to follow Carney aside from the State Broadcaster..Carney did recently do a short press conference but it went poorly to say the least. When the already carefully curated reporters dared to ask him about his business dealings and potential conflicts of interest, Carney had a tantrum and went after CBC’s Rosemary Barton. He was shocked that a State Broadcaster member would dare ask a critical question. His party expects media subservience. He won’t be holding another availability soon.When in populated centres in Canada, Team Carney worked hard to ensure independent media were banned from his events during the leadership campaign. As weak and unprincipled as that tactic is, it can be somewhat understood as it was a partisan race. Will he try to ban media from events during the general election when all Canadians will have questions for him? The Liberals are currently enjoying a bump in support right now. Canadians are eager to support anybody who isn’t Trudeau and Carney appears to fit the bill. Where Trudeau was all hair, breathily delivered soundbites and fake tears, Carney gives the impression of substance and depth. As long as that illusion persists, the Liberals don’t want to shake it..Mark Carney may not be Justin Trudeau, but he has been deeply involved in the Trudeau government for a long time. It will be challenging for him to convince voters he will be a face of reform and change within the party. At least, it will if he has to face any critical questions from the media.The Liberals under Carney have taken a solid policy stance, claiming they have repealed the consumer carbon tax. They can’t quite fully repeal it because the House of Commons is still prorogued but they have expended the political capital in saying they would kill the tax and used a questionable Order-in-Council.Carney has been well established on the record over the years as a strong proponent of a consumer carbon tax. The Liberals have demonized critics of the carbon tax saying they support forest fires and natural disasters if they don’t support the tax. Suddenly though, we apparently don’t need the tax. This about-face is worthy of some questions. Alas though, nobody can ask the question because Carney is still hiding from the press.Carney also is promising to increase the carbon tax upon industries which would lead to higher prices for consumer goods. How he plans to square that with Canadians is unknown because he won’t talk to them.There are questions of Carney’s business interests and whether or not he has put them all in blind trusts to avoid conflicts. He is a very affluent man which isn’t a crime of course, but it does lead to challenges when avoiding potential conflicts of interest as a prime minister. He won’t disclose any of that yet..The biggest question right now is on Carney’s financial holdings. While he has put his assets into a blind trust, he won’t disclose what those assets are. He will be forced to disclose his interests within 120 days but there should be no harm in disclosing immediately. Unless there is a big whopping conflict of interest in there, that is. He is determined to hide his financial dealings until after an election has been held. Just how many large government contracts do his companies hold? Dozens? None?Carney is already making major decisions as a prime minister despite having no electoral mandate. Canadians deserve to know more about this man.In politics, if the leader of a party is an asset, he or she will be exposed to the public as much as possible. The party will want to bring their leader out into the world and endear citizens to them.If a party thinks the best tactic for its leader is to hide from the public as much as possible they are hiding a serious problem.
