The more Canadians see of Carney, the worse he fares
The Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada (CCMBC)
It’s becoming increasingly clear why the Liberals limited the election campaign to the shortest time legally permissible. The more time goes on, the more Liberal Leader Mark Carney makes unfortunate remarks at various media appearances. For starters, Carney takes many days off from campaigning as compared to the other leaders who are largely on the campaign trail every day, reducing the possibilities for a bozo eruption. His press conferences and rallies are very strictly controlled, with journalists known to be unsympathetic barred from attending.
Even so, Carney often misspeaks – or maybe and even worse – intends to say what he does about controversial topics. This happened last week when some pro-Hamas demonstrators showed up at one of his events and started shouting about the “genocide” in Gaza and what did Carney plan to do about it. Carney responded by saying: “That’s why we have an arms embargo on Israel.”
In other words, Carney effectively agreed with the ludicrous concept that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. The Trudeau government was well known to have a soft spot for the Palestinian terrorists, but even they did not go that far. Also, one of Carney’s first acts after he won the Liberal leadership was spending a further $100 million of our tax dollars in Gaza. As virtually all funds going toward Gaza end up in the hands of Hamas, this was an outrageous thing for Carney to do and a clear signal of his position on this issue, against a longstanding democratic ally of Canada’s. An unelected caretaker prime minister also should not be spending taxpayer dollars in any event before an election.
Another unfortunate Carney comment came in the context of the news that the Chinese Communist Party was actively interfering in the Canadian election by way of sending messages on WeChat, the Chinese language social media network. These messages were very supportive of Carney and intended to convince Chinese-Canadian voters to support Liberals, as was done in the 2019 and 2021 elections as well. Even Elections Canada got concerned, which is something for that sleepy government body. When Carney was asked about why the Chinese were supporting him, Carney said he had no idea. A more honest answer would have been because he has been very involved with China in many different ways over the years in his various business and government dealings. What was left unresolved was whether anything would actually be done about this clear election interference. The answer seems to be nothing, which should appall all Canadians who value free and fair elections.
Another China-related issue emerged when Carney was asked about his relationship with the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada (JCCC), a lobby group that promotes closer ties between Canada and China and serves as a conduit for Chinese Communist government messages. Carney denied knowing the group, even though he appears on their website in photos with their senior leadership. Also, Peter Yuen, the replacement Liberal candidate for Paul Chiang, who was forced to step down because of comments he made about turning a Conservative candidate in to the Chinese consulate for a bounty, happens to be an honorary Director of the JCCC. It’s pretty hard to believe that Carney is totally unfamiliar with this group as he claimed. All in all, Carney seems to be very cozy with China indeed, which should be of concern to all Canadians.
Carney also waded into trouble when he made a lame joke about sending Premiers down to speak to U.S. media about Trump’s tariff war. In particular, he sarcastically suggested that he should send Alberta Premier Danielle Smith down to speak with the American media then stated that no, that would be a bad idea. Given the fractious relationship between Alberta and the Liberal government, this was foolish and condescending on Carney’s part to make a comment that was so divisive at a time when national unity is not exactly robust.
It seems that the “new” Liberal party, as Carney likes to call it, is very much like the old Liberal party in terms of its attitudes toward Israel, China and Alberta. The good news about the past week was that Canadians got a little more insight into Carney’s character and viewpoints. It wasn’t pretty.
