Beyond self-interest, Poilievre and Carney aren’t interested in co-operation

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The whole co-operation initiative was obviously a distasteful task to Pierre Poilievre, one that circumstances and strategists have foisted upon him. When he went to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday to talk about it, his opposite number appeared equally sincere.

This was a week when talk of co-operation seemed to be breaking out all over Ottawa. But the two main adversaries in federal politics were really playing cat and mouse.

Former prime minister and Conservative éminence grise Stephen Harper attended events to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of his rise to power and made a point of calling for a level of unity to preserve Canada in a moment of crisis. It was a good message. The follow-up wasn’t so impressive.

Conservative MP Jamil Jivani decided he could help the government with U.S. trade troubles by travelling to Washington to meet his old college buddy, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, though it seemed like neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives wanted him to.

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And on Wednesday, there was a Carney-Poilievre co-operation meeting between two political leaders who have no interest in co-operating beyond their narrowest self-interest.

That self-interest means they want to play at co-operating. It’s good to look like they’re putting country before party in a time of uncertainty. But it’s also about the potential timing of an election.

Mr. Poilievre desperately wants to avoid a snap election. He doesn’t want Mr. Carney to be able to claim the Conservatives are obstructing his agenda in the House of Commons.

Yet neither is very good at pretending to be an open-hearted collaborator.

On his way into the meeting, Mr. Poilievre told reporters that all Mr. Carney’s promises were nothing but an “illusion,” but Conservatives are “prepared to work collaboratively to convert the illusion into reality.” He paused to exchange banter with Liberal cabinet ministers walking past him in the hallway.

Mr. Carney has never beamed out co-operation vibes, either. He’s not famous for letting Liberal cabinet ministers put a hand on the tiller, let alone opposition leaders. He has tried to convince Conservative MPs that the best way to get things done is to cross the floor.

Before the meeting, the Liberals set out some items on which they want co-operation, including a bill that would toughen some bail conditions, which the parties advanced through committee hearings this week.

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But at the top of the Liberal list is the bill to implement the measure in last November’s budget − legislation that the government must pass but the official opposition would be loath to support.

That’s the kind of test that will make life in Parliament awkward for Mr. Poilievre.

For his first two years as leader, he spent a lot of time blasting other opposition leaders for propping up the Liberal government.

Last November, when a vote on the budget itself narrowly passed in the Commons because of the absence of two New Democrats and two Conservatives, Mr. Poilievre’s party had hidden two more MPs behind the curtains in the Commons until it was clear the Liberals would win the confidence vote.

Blasting the government for its failing while dodging votes of non-confidence will be a tricky balance now − one that his own Conservative supporters won’t like. It’s a good guess that Mr. Poilievre is going to hate it, too.

Perhaps Mr. Harper’s call for unity across party lines to protect Canada’s independence in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade war will give Mr. Poilievre some cover to accommodate some of the government’s agenda.

Certainly Mr. Jivani’s version of bipartisan is not doing his leader much good.

The MP’s self-appointed trade mission has annoyed some Conservatives, and his social-media posts stressed the positive nature of his meetings with U.S. officials and passed on a gut-churning message from Mr. Trump that he loves “the Canadians.”

In an interview he gave while in Washington, Mr. Jivani complained that Mr. Carney made a (minor) trade agreement with China “before we’re even really doing everything possible with the U.S.”

Mr. Jivani, it turns out, travelled to the U.S. to deliver a blame-Canada message to the country that launched a punitive trade war. That can’t be what Mr. Harper was talking about when he called for united Canadian political purpose in the face of aggressive U.S. trade tactics. Perhaps the era of political co-operation isn’t here yet.