That's fair, and Paul Martin is one of the most fiscally conservative PMs we've had as well.
I think Carney on his own is pretty solid, even if I don't like some of his policies on industrial carbon requirements and a few other things, but don't trust the LPC machine not to keep some of the same PMO folks in place so it's more of the same.
On the flip side I don't think much of PP and he has his own backroom folks that would do the same, so it seems like still two crappy alternatives, with Carney a big improvement in comparison to Team Trudeau (C).
Calling an election now makes sense though; when the consumer carbon tax cuts kick in in April, will drop about $0.18 a litre, on top of whatever normal drop we get from the switch from winter to summer gas (5 or 6 cents a litre last time), so that alone will win a lot of goodwill from the average Canadian.
Feel a bit like PP flew too close to the MAGA sun and it's now coming home to bite him in the ass, so wouldn't be surprised at a stronger minority or even a majority for the LPC with the way things are trending.
I agree with your assessment entirely for the most part.
In regards to Carney's team keeping a lot of the same folks in the PMO as Trudeau had - absolutely
He's already decided to run with mostly the same cabinet as Trudeau, and Gerald Butts was seen lurking in the background of his swearing in ceremony (photographed)...
We also have to remember - and this is where Candians tend to have very short memories, or are just apathetic very much to their own peril...
Carney has been Trudea's economic advisor for the last 5 years.
The same 5 years we've racked up more debt than all previous PM's combined, while simultaneously red-taping various industries to death across the country.
The same 5 years the LPC (under Carney's advice) has spent obscene amounts of money on literally nothing, while simultaneously crippling the very source of that revenue in the first place.
The same 5 years (to be fair, of 10 years...so not all his fault) that the Canadian dollar has lost approximately 40% of its value.
Canadians also need to remember the guy has only been PM for a week (effectively 5 business days) so it's waaaayyyyy too early to tell whether he will be fiscally conservative or not...
(Given that he's been the economic advisor to the most fiscally irresponsible government in Canadian history, I dont know why people think he's going to suddenly turn the economy around. The present state of the Canadian economy has been shaped largely by him.)
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He also has to be seen to be taking decisive action on various things, and has to keep the charm way up, as we do have an election coming up soon & he knows it.
So
this Mark Carney probably isn't the real Mark Carney.
I think we'll only see the real Mark Carney come out if they win the election, and I fear that will just be more of the same nonsense when it comes to Canada's money as before...because why wouldn't it be?
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He's on the record as stating that he believes the industrial carbon tax is far too low, and that he would increase it substantially while eliminating the consumer carbon tax.
Obviously companies will pass the increased cost of doing business down to the consumer, and he should know this.
So while the price of certain things may fall somewhat for a few months, the price is going to go right back up & then some when he imposes substantially higher carbon taxes on companies & industry...
America is currently lowering their corporate tax model to be among the lowest in the world, because they want companies to move there & employ Americans.
Meanwhile Canada is working behind the scenes to dramatically increase our corporate tax model (because of the carbon tax) which is going to drive businesses and investors to the much friendlier business environment south of the border...
Our shitty economic plan isn't Trump's fault. It's Carney's, Trudeau's, and Freeland's.
Trump didn't send Japan or Germany home with nothing because of "no business case"...that was 100% us.
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I don't know why people seem to think that the guy who was the economic advisor to the PM that's led to the worst economy in memory, and the substantial drop in the value of the Cdn dollar, is going to be the one to somehow save the very economy he's helped ruin...
(This isn't a criticism of you or your friend, and for all we know he might end up being a great PM in the end. But his involvement in what got us here in the first place isn't inspiring a lot of confidence from me, personally.)
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I did find it genuinely jaw dropping when I heard him say he was going to drop GST on new homes costing less than $1 million, seeing as that's been PP's suggestion for a while now.
If the only good economic ideas Carney has are actually that of the other guy, I'm thinking the other guy is going to be who gets my vote...
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(Until the LPC demands that the $400M their MP's stole is to be returned, I dont think I can even look at the LPC as an option.
$400M awarded to themselves, for contracts they awarded to themselves...and to make matters even worse is those contracts weren't even fulfilled.
I mean there is the kind of corruption that allows politicians to award big contracts to companies they themselves own, but for those companies to then turn around and not do ANY of the work stipulated in those contracts?!?
That's a whole new level of both corruption and sheer arrogance. And not a PEEP has been said about it by the LPC - they just waited a few days for the media cycle to move on.
If Carney really wants to show us how different he is, he'd make those MP's return that money immediately. But it's not even on his radar...
