Mark Carney speaks during his Liberal leader campaign launch in Edmonton, on Jan. 16.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
If you were to come up with a single word to describe Mark Carney, it probably wouldn’t be “outsider.”
And yet that is how the former Goldman Sachs banker, former associate deputy minister in Conservative and Liberal finance departments, former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England and adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is branding himself in his bid to become leader of the Liberal Party.
Mr. Carney first threw his outside pitch on the The Daily Show on Jan. 13, when he flatly told his interviewer, Jon Stewart, “I am an outsider” on the grounds that he is not part of the Liberal government.
Three days later, when he officially launched his leadership campaign in Edmonton, he re-emphasized that he is a political debutant and spun that lack of experience as a way of contrasting himself to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
“I’m not the usual suspect when it comes to politics, but this is no time for politics as usual,” he said. “It’s not the time for lifelong politicians such as Pierre Poilievre – politicians with bad ideas, naive and dangerous ideas.”
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Mr. Poilievre, of course, sees it differently. In his view, Mr. Carney is the “ultimate Liberal insider,” while he himself – a man who has spent his entire adult life in elected politics, including almost 21 years as an MP, two years in the Harper cabinet and two years as party leader, making him the ultimate Conservative insider – is the actual outsider.
It’s nuts, this effort by politicians to position themselves as outsiders. It is dangerously distracting and utterly unreliable as a means of sorting political candidates.
After all, the current reigning champion of the outsider sweepstakes is U.S. President Donald Trump. He has returned to the White House for a second term in the guise of an anti-Washington crusader and swamp-drainer whose sole reason for living is the well-being of his fellow citizens – and yet to the naked eye he is anything but that.
The effectiveness of Mr. Trump’s ability to hawk himself as an outsider in his successful 2016 presidential campaign was such that his opponents fell over themselves to claim the same status. His rival Hillary Clinton – the former first lady of Arkansas and the United States, two-term senator and ex-Secretary of State – billed herself as the ultimate outsider on the grounds she was a woman.
Politicians who do this are seeking the stamp of authenticity they believe goes with being untainted by the sins of incumbency. Some of that has to do with the fact that voters around the world are losing faith in government institutions to solve the complex problems of the 21st century, but office-seekers who claim outsider status are dangerously buying into the idea that government is the problem, not the solution.
The whole thing is a mug’s game that voters ought to be wary of.
It is far too easy to pantomime the role of maverick outsider on the campaign trail and then, once in office, turn out to be only interested in the continued hold on power – even at the cost of breaking important campaign promises. This is one of the reasons Canadian governments tend to fall after two terms in office.
It also gives rise to such absurdities as the little duel between Mr. Poilievre and Mr. Carney.
It’s a competition that undermines both the real-world experience and economic expertise a person like Mr. Carney could bring to public office in dangerous economic times, and the political chops someone like Mr. Poilievre can bring to the task of getting things done in Canada’s parliamentary system – not to mention his years of public service.
Canadians should be wary of politicians who strive to become Ottawa’s biggest insider by pretending they’re the biggest outsider. Voters would be wiser in the coming year to remove the insider-outsider filter from their political lens and focus on real issues.
What this country needs is political leaders who have the originality to rise above petty differences, who have a clearly stated platform outlining how they will govern, who have the moral fibre to keep their promises once in office, and who will surround themselves with the best possible people to meet the challenges ahead.
What it doesn’t need is extremely well connected and powerful people pretending to be innocents on the outside looking in.