Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Canada Chooses Carney
The Canadians voted yesterday in their general election, brought on the by change of leadership in the Liberal Party. The Liberals retained their status as the biggest voting group in the House of Commons, and picked up a few seats. This is a far cry from where things were just a few months ago when the Tories were measuring the drapes at 24 Sussex Gardens, where the Prime Minister lives. Since then, however, Donald Trump became the American president, and he has made a point of threatening the independence of Canada. Canadians responded by choosing to be "The True North strong and Free."
While a few votes have yet to be counted (overseas military, for example), the result is clearly emerging that the Liberals will probably need 4 seats from other parties for support. A majority is 172 seats. Right now, the Liberals have won 155 seats and are leading in 13 more. That is almost certain to hold, meaning they picked up 13 seats. The Tories have won 133 seats and lead in another 11 for a likely total of 144. The Bloc Quebecois will be the third biggest group winnin 21 and leading in 2 for a total of 23, down 9 from the previous parliament. The New Democrats had a bad night, winning 5 and leading in 2 for a total of 7. That is down from 25. The Greens have one seat outright and lead nowhere else, which reduces them from 2 seats.
One must feel a certain sympathy for the defeated Conservatives and New Democrats whose leaders lost their seats. Just four months ago, Pierre Poilievre of the Conservatives was the likely Prime Minister. Today, he is out of work, having lost his Carleton riding to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy, by 4.5%. Jagmeet Singh whose has led the New Democrats for several years, finished third in his riding of Burnaby Central in British Columbia. Wade Cheng of the Liberals is the new MP with 42.1% of the vote. James Yan of the Conservatives was second with 38.7%. Mr. Singh got just 18.1% of the vote. That is a hard way to end a career, but it has ended it.
Given the arithmetic, the Liberals have a few options. They can govern as a minority with ad hoc support for each bill. They could offer the Bloc a coalition, wherein the BQ appoints a few ministers and the Liberals make some policy alterations to suit the BQ. Alternativesly, it could arrange for support from the Bloc on a confidence-and-supply basis, which means the BQ will support the government on matters of confidence and on the budget. Two other options are doing those exact things with the NDP. The NDP may be the favored because they are smaller, making them less able to throw a spanner into the works. Moreover, the NDP is no longer a recognized grouping in Commons because it does not have enough seats. A deal with the Liberals would let them have a little more influence.
This is almost the worst possible outcome for the American administration. The worst would have been a Liberal outright majority. The reasons are the same as this journal gave for endorse Mr. Carney yesterday. Not only is the PM a Canadian patriot willing to say “no/non” to the US, he has the professional expertise and personal contacts from his days as Governor of the Bank of Canada and Governor of the Bank of England. He has forgotten more about global trade and finance than the entire US cabinet knows.
Mr. Carney has said that Canada is over the American betrayal, and those are the words he used. The friendly relations may remain between the individual citizens of the two nations, but the governmental ties are fraught. Mr. Carney is skating with his elbows up, and he knows how to check an opponent. Even if one knows nothing of ice hockey, it is clear that he is not going to give the Americans any room to screw with Canada. The True North has not won yet, but it has the right team captain.
© Copyright 2025 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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