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Are Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre burgeoning bros or frenemies?
OTTAWA — Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney ended his remarks by making a tongue-in-cheek comment to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who was sitting at the head table with him.
“I know there are some stoics in the room,” said Carney, glancing at Poilievre. “So, I will close by channeling Marcus Aurelius,” added the prime minister in reference to the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher that Poilievre cited in a recent Economic Club of Canada address.
When it was Poilievre’s turn to speak, he couldn’t help but chirp back at Carney’s comment.
“Mr. Prime Minister, I think it is very appropriate that you quoted Marcus Aurelius, although he wasn’t much of a practicing Christian,” Poilievre said in front of the crowd of faith leaders.
That interaction between Carney and Poilievre is just one snapshot of how both men are navigating a new political dynamic — one that is still confrontational in the House of Commons but is based on “mutual respect” behind the scenes, according to Poilievre.
“I think what you’ve really seen with Pierre Poilievre in recent months is a maturation and measured approach to how he communicates and presents himself,” said Jamie Ellerton, founder and principal at Conaptus and a former Conservative political staffer.
“I think this relationship with the prime minister is an example of that.”
On March 11, the National Post witnessed Carney and Poilievre having a private discussion in a hallway behind the chair of the Speaker of the House of Commons just before Poilievre was set to travel to the United States to make the case for tariff-free trade.
Carney was seemingly giving Poilievre some recommendations of people whom he should meet with in the U.S., while Poilievre joked that he would be enjoying eating ribs in Texas.
Speaking to U.S. podcaster Joe Rogan, Poilievre said he was keeping Carney apprised of his visit with text messages “to tell him what’s going on, to try and support his work.” Poilievre also refused to criticize Carney, claiming that he wouldn’t do it on “foreign soil.”
“I mean, we have a mutual respect,” said Poilievre.
“That is such a Canadian thing to do,” said Rogan.
Marci Surkes, who was a senior aide to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and is now chief strategy officer at Compass Rose, thinks it is “mutually beneficial” to Carney and Poilievre to recognize that the mood of the country is to be more cooperative and united.
“I think that’s a recognition, to some degree, that Canadians are not interested in the sort of perverse, polarized partisanship that they are seeing in the United States,” she said.
“This spirit of cooperation may not last forever, but in this moment, it meets the moment in terms of what Canadians are looking for from political leaders.”
Poilievre’s new, relaxed tone in public and in private with Carney is a 180-degree shift from his time with Trudeau, according to a Liberal source with knowledge of their interactions.
The source said that whenever Trudeau would invite opposition leaders for briefings on a specific subject matter, while Yves-François Blanchet, Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May would generally be friendly and constructive, Poilievre would never let his guard down.
The source said Poilievre treated those meetings as if he was still in question period in the House of Commons, reading out a prepared list of questions, instead of engaging with Trudeau and other leaders on the subject matter at hand.
Surkes acknowledged that Poilievre’s style, both in public and in private, “has been bombastic and pitbullish from day one” but he is now purposefully switching course.
“I do believe we are seeing a shift because, quite frankly, he has nowhere left to go politically,” she said. “He can either change or he can continue to live as yesterday’s man, which is how he appeared in the last general election campaign.”
Poilievre has mentioned in media interviews that the moment when all federal party leaders travelled to a vigil following the tragedy of Tumbler Ridge, B.C. , was a turning point in Carney and him getting to know each other better and forging a respectful relationship.
“I think, unfortunately, sometimes it takes very tragic incidents to get people to recognize the serious nature of the work that they do,” said Surkes. “These are the two leading political figures in our country and they do need to be able to work together.”
Is there a risk, however, to have Poilievre seen to be too friendly with Carney?
“I guess that’s a two-sided coin,” said Ellerton. “The risk is you look like Jagmeet Singh, where what you’re offering becomes indistinguishable from the government of the day, which is what happened to Jagmeet Singh, and why the NDP were completely wiped out.”
“But for Pierre Poilievre, I think the circumstances are different. I think people fundamentally understand there’s broad disagreements on approaches.”
— With files from Christopher Nardi.
National Post calevesque@postmedia.com
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