Is Carney a conservative?
Why would the Ontario NDP Deputy Leader join the federal Liberals?
Feb 15, 2026
The media has changed since I was the publisher of the local newspaper – that was in the 1990s before the internet and social media. It used to be that the vast majority of journalists worked for media outlets such a newspapers, radio and TV and while those enterprises may have had a point of view and may have put more emphasis on some stories than others, generally there were standards – truth was important and sources needed to be checked.
But that has changed- newspapers began to consolidate into conglomerates and their owners began to control the tone of their papers – some stories got emphasis, others were suppressed or even eliminated. Many are now exclusively on line where readers can select the stories they want and ignore the rest. In some cases (like Fox) opposing points of view are simply absent or are replaced by grossly slanted narratives.
News today is highly polarized and that’s the context in which Mark Carney became Canada’s Prime Minister. He took over from Justin Trudeau who had become very unpopular. Carney immediately set out to distance himself from the Trudeau record and one of the first things he did was to cancel the carbon tax which had become an albatross around the Liberals’ necks. But since Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had been campaigning against it ever since he became leader, Carney’s action was labelled as stealing a ‘conservative’ policy and virtually all media bought into that narrative.
But Carney is first and foremost a pragmatist – the carbon ‘tax’ was unpopular and was dragging the Liberals down. Even though economists and most environmentalists agree that it was the fairest way to reduce carbon emissions, it made practical sense to get rid of it – there were other ways to reduce carbon – not as simple or elegant – but just as effective in the long run. As a former bank governor Carney has experience in achieving goals with blunt instruments. So, no, Carney did not steal a Conservative idea.
So where does Carney stand on social issues. During the election campaign, he promised to continue and expand pharmacare, to continue and expand dental care. Both programs were opposed by the Conservatives who would have cancelled them.
And Carney followed through with funding for these programs in the fall budget and also added funding for a school lunch program to give (mainly) lower income students access to nutritious food to feed their brains. Carney did not shift to the ‘right’ – he’s done as much for Canada’s social safety net in less than a year than Trudeau did in the previous 5 years – and Trudeau only did it in order to get the NDP’s support.
And that’s why Doly Begum, the NDP’s Ontario deputy leader is joining Carney’s government. Media types say they didn’t see it coming and that’s because they had bought into their own narrative that Carney had shifted the Liberals to the right. But Begun looked past the media hype and saw someone who would act on a progressive agenda and get things done. I would describe Carney as a pragmatic progressive.
Begun is planning to run in the seat that was vacated by Bill Blair who is leaving his role as Minister of National Defence to become Canada’s new High Commissioner in England. That means a by-election – one of several. The media is incessantly preoccupied with the fact that Liberals are in a minority in Parliament and they are ‘hanging on by a thread’ and could be ‘defeated at any time’.
But the media are wrong. They are the only people who want an election. The Conservatives, the NDP and the Bloc know that Carney is popular and if there was any election they would lose what little leverage they currently have. Carney is quite prepared to fight an election – if it comes to that – because he would win.
To listen to the media you would believe that Carney was on a short leash and that if he can’t deliver on a deal with Trump the electorate will turn against him. but Carney is unfazed. The public doesn’t pay a lot of attention to pundits – they see the facts on the ground – Trump is an asshole and they will continue to support Carney.
