Mark Carney: democracy’s unTrump

“I WOULD like to thank Donald Trump without whom this would not have been possible.” Mark Carney, Canada’s 24th prime minister, was too tactful on Monday (Apr 28) to actually give the US president credit for his party’s return to office. But it is the Lord’s truth. By coveting Canada’s sovereignty, Trump turned the semi-Trumpian Conservative party’s projected landslide into defeat in the space of weeks. Not bad for the US president’s first 100 days. He might do a similar favour for Australia’s incumbent Labor party this weekend without even threatening to annexe the country.

But Carney deserves credit for nailing his opponent Pierre Poilievre to the Trumpian mast. Instead of Poilievre’s me-too “Canada First”, Carney proclaimed “Canada Strong”. He did so while also distancing himself from Justin Trudeau, his deeply unpopular predecessor, as Liberal prime minister. There are lessons here for Democrats. Had Kamala Harris thrown Joe Biden under the bus with the same dispatch as Carney did to Trudeau, she may have defeated Trump last November. Most of all, Carney showed that non-populists can win in the right conditions – in this case as a foil to the world’s chief populist.

Full disclosure: I have known Carney since the early 1990s. Though his skills as an economist and central banker were clear, Monday was the first time he stood for election. He turned 60 last month, two days after replacing Trudeau. It is hard to overstate how improbable this looked a few months ago. Carney worked for Goldman Sachs in London and New York. Then he headed the Bank of Canada. After that he became governor of the Bank of England. Then he joined a global investment firm. He promoted environmental, social and governance issues at the UN – two abbreviations that would normally debar him from impolite company. If globalism had a name and a face, it would be Carney’s.