For any other election, in any other time, with anyone else as President of the United States, I wouldn’t be writing this; but this is different.
Under other circumstances I would review party policy, look at the candidates’ voting history, and perhaps even vote for the party rather than the leader; but this is different.
I’m not a political writer. I typically write about people and relationships; but this is different.
Canadians go to the polls on April 28th, 2025. This might be the most important election in Canadian history.
In Canada’s federal elections we vote for our local Member of Parliament and the Leader of the Party with the most votes become the Prime Minister. In theory, and under normal circumstances, the concept is that one should vote for the person who can best represent you and the issues that are most important to you in Parliament. This time, however, we must vote for the party leader who is the best to lead us through the next four years. Why? Because our next Prime Minister must have the intelligence, experience, and fortitude to confront Donald Trump’s wacky ideas and unpredictable actions.
Although we have sixteen registered parties, I will only comment on the top four: The Liberal Party of Canada lead by Mark Carney, the Conservative Party of Canada lead by Pierre Poilievre, the New Democratic Party of Canada lead by Jazmeet Singh, and the Bloc Quebecois lead by Yves-Francois Blanchet. In fifth place is the Green Party of Canada with co-leaders Jonathan Pednault and Elizabeth May. I actually like Blanchet. He’s a strong leader, but the problem is he’d look out for Quebec first and maybe even Quebec only. I don’t mind Singh. He and Trudeau made a good team, but as I said these are different times and I don’t see him as Prime Minister. So, that leaves us with Carney versus Poilievre.
Mark Carney is not a politician. Many are referring to him as a businessman. I wouldn’t for two reasons: First, after reading his book Value(s), I’d say he’s a cross between an economist and a finance expert. Parts of his book read like a textbook from a university macroeconomics course, but in other sections his explanations, rationales and ability to mesh dissimilar concepts into one forward-moving idea are nothing short of brilliant. Second, Donald Trump is a businessman…not my kind of businessman, but nevertheless a businessman. I would never, ever, place these two men in the same classification. Mark Carney’s background includes a plethora of experiences that match perfectly with the challenge of steering a country through a possible recession and transforming it into a leadership position world wide.
Pierre Poilievre, on the other hand, is a life politician. He’s never held a regular job outside of politics. I’m sorry, but that’s not good enough for me. He’s not strong enough for these times. He keeps denying he’s like Trump, but the similarities keep creeping in. An example, he’s not letting any reporters travel with him on the campaign. What’s that all about? He wants control over what they see and hear. Sound familiar? I’m finding it difficult to think of good descriptive words…hmm…smarmy?
One last thought. I believe Trump respects Mark Carney. Notice that since Carney took over the leadership of Canada, we’ve not heard many references to Canada becoming the 51st State or comments about Carney being “Governor”? Trump seemingly respects strong leaders, or at least leaders who’ve had impressive backgrounds. (As an aside, I wonder if that’s one of the reasons he rode roughshod over President Zelenskyy – because he had been a comedian.) I would have loved to have been listening in on the one conversation between Carney and Trump had, whereafter tariffs on Canada have seemed to be halted.
There is no question in my mind. Prime Minister Mark Carney is and will be Canada’s saviour.
Hindsight: My Journey 
Yes you put it quite well, it comes down to 2 leaders and I agree with you, now it not the time to fool around and hope for the best.
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Good piece. Donald Trump touts being a good businessman, but while he is in business, being good is debatable. Financial reporters who have covered his businesses, note he is very good salesman, but not a good manager. We see this clearly in the White House where terms like “chaotic and incompetent “ are used by reporters. Plus, there are things he should know, but doesn’t. He should know relationships matter in sales. He should know you have to plan ahead and vet such plans. He should know how things like tariffs work better than he does. And so on. Keith
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