Debate watchers: Carney a 'classic' Progressive Conservative in Liberal clothing

Yahoo

18-04-2025

Robbie Kreger-Smith doesn't see Mark Carney as a traditional Liberal leader. He sees Carney as a 'classic Progressive Conservative.'
And, nothing from Thursday's federal leaders debate would change Kreger-Smith's opinion of the Prime Minister.
Kreger-Smith oversees nine McDonald's restaurants in the region, and the construction of a couple more. He was one of the approximately 30 attendees at the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce's debate watch party, held at MKT Fresh Food | Beer Market in Old Strathcona.
So, when Carney closed the debate by warning Canadians that U.S. president Donald Trump is not only trying to change the fundamentals of international trade, but is pressuring this country so Americans have unfettered access to our natural resources, the message landed.
'I'm just looking for a plan to try and mitigate the threats being faced by businesses in Alberta and Edmonton,' said Kreger-Smith. 'The prospect of tariffs is real. We import a lot of our products from the U.S. We have done a lot to try and insulate ourselves from that, but, at the end of the day, whether it's construction commodities et cetera, it's the old adage that we're a mouse laying next to an elephant.'
He said the restaurants buy about 90 per cent of their materials and supplies from Canadian sources. But some of the construction materials needed can only be source from south of the border. With the Canadian and American economies being so integrated, the notion of 'Buy Canadian' can only go so far.
Brendan Callander is MKT's manager. He said the majority of the restaurant's supplies come from Canadian sources, from local microbrews to the ingredients featured in the dishes. But, customers do love their Tennessee and Kentucky bourbons, and some plastic products are only available through American suppliers.
Like Kreger-Smith, the tariff issue was top of mind for Callander. And, throughout the campaign, Carney's 'elbows up' messaging has landed.
And he said he can't ignore the fact that Carney, as the head of the Bank of Canada, worked for former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.
'He's got the experience, and it was Stephen Harper who appointed him to face the economic crisis. And (New Democrat) leader Jagmeet Singh hasn't said anything of substance in a couple of years.'
Callander added that he simply can't trust Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, and feels a lot of the numbers that come out of his mouth need extensive fact-checking, The trust isn't there.
While it is a small sample size, what was said at the Chamber event is an indication that, despite Poilievre's attempts to downplay Carney's role in helping the Harper government navigate the global financial crisis, people see Carney as a Liberal who has blue Tory blood in his veins. In attempts to support Poilievre, Harper has said that Jim Flaherty had much more influence as his finance minister than Carney did as the head of the bank. At least in terms of the Chamber event attendees, that message hasn't landed, either.
The Chamber bills itself as a non-partisan organization. But it has put forward four key policy areas that it feels should be priorities for whoever forms the next federal government. The Chamber is pushing to create an 'investable economy,' to increase trade capacity, to improve productivity, and build critical infrastructure to better connect Edmonton businesses to other Canadians and the rest of the world.
The debate began with talk about if Canada should invest in new pipelines, or if it should create a renewable energy grid from coast to coast.
No matter if its oil and gas or a green grid, the fact that all the leaders were talking about the need for Canada to think east-west about energy rather than north south, well that was music to the ears of Christopher Martin, the Chamber's director of policy and government relations.
'In Edmonton, we're really trying to figure out what the next government will do to boost investment in critical trade infrastructure, which a lot of the candidates talked about,' he said. 'We were excited about that.'
But there was a wild card on stage. While Carney reiterated his message of getting the federal government and the provinces to work together in a time of crisis, Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet doubled down on the idea that his province is not going to bend the knee in order to get a new pipelines built. He warned that Quebec was just at the beginning of a process to see if the general population has warmed to the idea of allowing a pipeline to run through the province. He warned that, even if approved, a pipeline wouldn't be completed until long after the Trump presidency had waned. And, in calling a pipeline a 'monstrosity' on national television, he certainly telegraphed his own views on the topic.
'I think every leader on that stage has different interests in mind,' said Martin. 'I think that whoever becomes our next government really has to figure out how they're going to create a unified voice and how do we create the trade infrastructure to go with our goals. That includes working with all of our provincial and federal leaders.'
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