Here’s what Mark Carney did today.
In a rapidly shifting global landscape, the Prime Minister announced the launch of a new Major Projects Office (MPO) headquartered in Calgary (any comments Premier Smith), with additional offices opening in other major Canadian cities. Backed by legislation already passed this June, the MPO is designed to fast-track nation-building projects, ports, railways, clean energy initiatives, and critical mineral developments. It will create a “one project, one review” approach, reducing approval times to a maximum of two years while upholding environmental standards and Indigenous rights.
Even more, the MPO will help structure financing through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Growth Fund, and the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program, alongside private capital and provincial partners. In other words: real planning, real coordination, real jobs, real growth.
That’s leadership. It’s about building something Canadians can see, touch, and benefit from. It’s about the future.
And meanwhile, here’s what we got from the Leader of the Opposition. Pierre Poilievre stood at a podium and gave Canadians a 30-minute “tough-on-crime” sermon, complete with dramatic tone, perfect salt-and-pepper hair, and rehearsed theatrics. His message? Fear. He painted pictures of home invasions at 2 a.m., of parents forced into split-second life-or-death choices, of a system that punishes victims instead of criminals.
Now, crime is real. The trauma of an intrusion, the fear of glass shattering in the night, that’s real too. I don’t dismiss it. But my greatest fears aren’t criminals breaking into my home. I’m more afraid of tornadoes ripping across the prairie, wildfires swallowing forests, and hurricanes flooding communities. I’m more afraid of global instability, Gaza, Ukraine, and the uncertainty of a world where Trump makes decisions that affect Canadian lives. I’m more afraid because my own son serves in the Canadian Armed Forces, and I know exactly what “instability” can mean for families.
Poilievre doesn’t go there. He doesn’t want to. Because that would mean confronting Trump, confronting climate, confronting complexity. Instead, he leans into American-style “stand your ground” rhetoric, promising to rewrite Canadian law to make lethal force a presumed right.
And to me that is NOT leadership, that’s mimicry. We don’t need to become a northern knockoff of the United States. Their gun culture, their obsession with armed self-defense, their endless cycle of mass shootings, that’s not who we are.
Pierre knows who he’s talking to. He’s speaking to his Conservative base, shoring up support after losing his seat in Ottawa and facing a leadership review. He’s not speaking to Canadians as a whole. And that’s the difference.
When I listen to Mark Carney, I don’t hear someone only talking to Liberals. I hear someone talking to Canadians. He compromises where necessary. He thinks before he speaks. He takes the 10,000-foot view, not the 10-foot spotlight. He knows that being Prime Minister isn’t about playing to the bleachers. It’s about carrying the weight of a nation, even when it means taking on allies, critics, or his own party.
Poilievre, meanwhile, is stuck in performance mode. He hammers away at the one note. But when you only stare at the narrow circle beneath your feet, you miss the horizon. And right now, Canada’s horizon is where the real challenges lie.
Where does he stand on Gaza? On Ukraine? On Trump’s tariffs? On Canada’s economic sovereignty? We don’t know. And I suspect that’s intentional. It’s safer for him to stick with crime monologues than to risk alienating his base by talking about the big picture.
So let’s be clear about what happened today: Mark Carney announced a nation-building office to accelerate infrastructure, clean energy, and jobs. Pierre Poilievre delivered a half-hour performance about fear.
That’s the contrast. One builds, one blusters. One leads, one performs. And I, for one, don’t feel safe leaving Canada’s future in the hands of a performer. Because when the storm clouds gather, and they already are, I want a leader, not an actor waiting for applause. I choose hope over despair.
Nancy's Notes 