Prime Minister Mark Carney has named two cabinets, in March and May, and a shuffle is expected again.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
David Lametti had the kind of role other people close to prime ministers have played. Until he didn’t.
The former MP and justice minister’s friendship with Mark Carney dates back to the days when they played hockey at Oxford University. In July, he was appointed Mr. Carney’s principal secretary – not the chief of staff running the PMO, but a right-hand political adviser.
Liberals around Parliament Hill tended to think it an odd choice. Mr. Lametti was known for his sharp legal mind, not political tactics. One senior Liberal insider pointed to another incongruity: Mr. Carney was moving the Liberal government to the centre but Mr. Lametti’s views were way to his left.
Still, they noted, it can be good to have someone close to the PM who can challenge them, like the Socratic method. But Mr. Carney hadn’t shown that he operates with anything like the Socratic method. He’s the CEO. In charge.
Now, Mr. Lametti has been appointed as Canada’s next ambassador to the United Nations. He told a CBC radio interviewer that there was no falling out, that the PM decided he wanted someone he trusts at the UN. But he’s out of the place that Ottawa insiders call “the Centre.”
Two things can be gleaned from this and the other personnel moves. One is that the Prime Minister has a cold, perhaps even ruthless hand when he picks his team. The other is that the Carney government’s transition to power is still not done.
Mr. Lametti had replaced Tom Pitfield, who had come into the PMO in March in what some around Mr. Carney called Transition One, for the pre-and immediate postelection period. Mr. Lametti arrived in the summertime Transition Two. But Mr. Pitfield never left the PMO and now he is principal secretary again.
Mr. Carney’s PMO still hasn’t filled all posts, for example in communications. There are rumblings that Liberal MPs feel left out, suggesting hand-holding has been scant.
Mr. Carney’s cabinet doesn’t seem like a settled unit, either. Chrystia Freeland just left. Mr. Carney, a demanding boss who rebukes the unprepared, is said to be frustrated with some ministers and sure of few. Ministers under fire – this week it is Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree – must feel like they’re on probation.
Unlike most prime ministers, Mr. Carney didn’t bring in a lot of long-time political loyalists and old friends.
In Transition Two, the Prime Minister hired a “permanent” chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, a former UN ambassador who had run a major law firm and been active with the Quebec Liberal Party. He also tapped Michael Sabia, then-CEO of Hydro-Québec and a former deputy minister of finance, to head the civil service as Clerk of the Privy Council. Mr. Carney knew both before, but they weren’t buddies. They were hired for their CVs.
The post of Government Representative in the Senate didn’t go to the widely expected choice, Senator Peter Boehm, a former senior diplomat and bureaucrat who was friendly with Mr. Carney. Instead, he named Senator Pierre Moreau, who had no special relationship but political experience from the Quebec National Assembly.
It’s not that Mr. Carney won’t hire friends. He has sounded out business-executive friends for appointments. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson is a long-time friend he recruited, as is PMO foreign-policy adviser Scott Gilmore. And Mr. Lametti is going to the UN.
But most of his team were recent recruits to a political project. Mr. Pitfield is more of a political associate who really got to know Mr. Carney when the latter returned to Canada in 2020, showing an interest in politics, and joined the advisory board of the Canada 2020 think tank that Mr. Pitfield chaired.
And Mr. Carney’s government looks a lot like one run by a small group. The most senior figures ostensibly running the shop spend a lot of time travelling on Mr. Carney’s big issues: Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Sabia went to Washington as trade emissaries and accompanied the PM to the UN this week.
The wider governing team still seems to be in transition. The cabinet might be, too.
Mr. Carney has named two cabinets, in March and May, and a shuffle is expected again – though perhaps not for months. Sitting MPs are being considered for diplomatic appointments, which might open up by-elections that give Mr. Carney a chance to recruit.
Mr. Carney’s transition continues.