EDITORIAL: Carney reveals his snobby side

Article content

Every day, in small ways and large, Liberal leader Mark Carney betrays his contempt for those who don’t share his political views.

Recently, he took it upon himself to sneer at two premiers.

At a rally in Vancouver last weekend, Carney mocked Alberta’s Danielle Smith and Doug Ford from Ontario.

“We’re fighting the Americans in the pocketbook,” he said. “We have retaliatory tariffs on them. We just hit them again in the auto sector. We’re fighting them … on Fox News.

“We’re sending Doug Ford on to Fox news, to show them we’re not messing around up here,” he went on.

It was a snide comment about how Ford has been showing up on popular news shows in the U.S. in an attempt to stave off U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

He went on to disparage Smith and her efforts.

“We’re going to send Danielle next. We’re … well, no, maybe we won’t send Danielle,” he said. “We won’t send Danielle. We’re going to keep her. No, it was a bad idea. Strike that. Just ignore that.”

It was a smug sideswipe of two Conservative premiers who have worked tirelessly over the last few months to minimize the tariffs. You may not like their politics, but you can’t argue that they have been fighting for Canada. Ford, particularly, has demonstrated he’ll work across political lines to build consensus to save this country’s vital industries.

Which is more than Carney’s done. He’s criticizing the two premiers for appearing on Fox News? You cast your nets where the fish are swimming. If you want to reach Trump supporters and the U.S. heartland, that’s Fox News. Carney would no doubt prefer to make his pitch on NPR. Fair enough. Then Fox News can report what he said.

Carney may be prime minister, but as yet, he has no mandate from the electorate. That’s a quirk of our parliamentary system of government and it doesn’t in any way undermine his legitimacy as prime minister. It’s how our system works.

But Ford and Smith were elected by the people. Ford was given a massive mandate earlier this year specifically to fight the tariffs.

Mock them if you will, Mr. Carney. Canadians will judge you at the ballot box.