BATRA’S BURNING QUESTIONS: Liberal MPs on Carney - He’s mean. He yells. He’s dismissive

He's mean, he yells, he's dismissive.These are just a few things that some Liberal MPs claim and how Mark Carney treats them.So is there more consternation in Liberal land?Hello everyone, I'm Adrienne Badger, with me are Warren Kinsella and Brian Lilly.So we've seen reporting from the Toronto Star, Brian, and reporting now from the Globe and Mail, that pretty much sums up what I said about what the number of Liberal MPs feel.how Mark Carney treats them.

He's centralizing power, sounds familiar.He is dismissive of their concerns, sounds familiar.And that he yells.So is this problematic for the Prime Minister?Or should these MPs be just grateful that they still have a job because Carney brought life back into their party?

Well, maybe he's figuring out that they all owe him their job because you know this is a guy who's had trouble managing his caucus the way he should in my view like telling them I don't care we're going to build a pipeline instead he you know he was cowed by them for a long time and and now I guess he's not and he's got his majority And now they're complaining to the media.I think it'll help his popularity and opinion polls and they might go up over 50 % now.I mean, that's that's my view on it.Could it prove to be problematic down the road?Yeah.You talk to anyone that's, you know, been a leader in politics and caucus management is important.

You know, when things start to go bad, you want the caucus to be with you.The most famous example is, you know, Brian Mulroney being very low in the polls, but he was always super nice to his caucus.He looked after them, so they stuck with him.Stephen Harper, even when he got less popular, the caucus stuck with him.Justin Trudeau, less so.So, you know, what's interesting is that they are in power,

and they have a majority, and they're complaining about the leader.This is normally what happens when the polls are going down, when you are in opposition.Like, guess what?We can talk about this later if you want.There are conservative MPs griping.but they're in opposition.

They want to be in power.They're upset they lost.I don't know why these guys are turning around and complaining to the media.By the way, everyone that went on record after this story broke, oh, the leaders never raised his voice.The leaders all complained.And I'm sure Warren, who's been in these caucus rooms, could tell us all about it.

Well, it's interesting, Warren, because caucus management, there's an art to it, certainly.But the fact that the caucuses Carney Liberals are not in any political jeopardy.They aren't facing any electoral challenges.Just a couple of weeks ago, we'd heard about a list of almost two dozen MPs that wrote to him, say concerns about climate change.And then we saw Stephen Guilbeau quit, which most, I suspect, the Carney PM most celebrated, as opposed to was upset about.What does this say or is this just regular bellyaching from a bunch of MPs who have way too much time on their hands?

There's a bunch of factors at play here and I have worked for prime ministers so you know the ones that were considered to be good to work for because of their personalities were guys like Crenshan, Mulroney.Mulroney was famous for being loved by his staff.You know, Crenshan treated us professionally.We had to have the facts, but he was a good boss to work for.Joe Clark was nice to staff, but obviously not a successful prime minister.And there were yellers, you know,

Harper was a yeller.Harper would yell at staff and swear at them, but obviously he got results out of that.Carney has this condescension.What I've noted is a lot of the condescension is directed at women.

Female reporters in particular.

Female reporters in particular.Not a good look.no matter how successful you are in the polls.And so Paul Martin famously would have eruptions.So it depends on the personality.It also depends on the circumstances.

So this guy now has a majority and I think some of these MPs are popping off anonymously to the Toronto Star and now the Globe and Mail and Hill Times and us is because they realize they're not gonna be in cabinet.You know, when you got a minority, there's a bit of competition and some jousting and so on.Now he's got a majority, there'll be some stability.And a lot of them are sitting there going, geez, I'm not going to be in cabinet anytime soon.And I'm kind of grumpy about that.So I mean, that's another factor along with the Prime Minister's personality.

And also, it's a function of where I am in Ottawa.You know, you have people want to be a big shot.And if they can't be a big shot by being in cabinet, they start leaking stuff to those of us in the media.We love it.It's great, you know, makes for great stories and intrigue and all of that.Not sure the public love it as much, but it's an Ottawa thing.

It's just, you know, you make yourself into a big shot by leaking something.So I think those are the factors that are at play here.

So I think generally speaking, Brian, all of this angst, whatever you want to call it, amongst what appears to be a number of Liberal MPs, is a much, may perhaps, much ado about nothing.Now they're going into the summer break, they're going on the barbecue circuit, they'll be back in their writings, perhaps they'll be, you know, they'll calm down, come back tothe fall ready for a robust legislative agenda.What's your read on it?Is this going to fester or is it going to take just one accomplishment from Carney to sort of tamp some of this angst down?

Look, what really matters is how voters feel about them.And, you know, our most recent poll for Postmedia from Leger had them at 50 % nationally, 52 % in Ontario.That's majority territory.He's doing well and if he does get a pipeline plan approved this summer, expect those numbers of about 30 % in Alberta to go up.And at that point, he's winning many seats if he goes to an election in Alberta.So it's the polls, it's the view of voters that count.

Um, these MPs that are bellyaching, not as much, I hate to sound dismissive of it, but that's the way it is.And we've all, you know, known for a long time, not always known, but we've known for a long time.how dismissive Carney can be.We saw him wave off Melanie Jolie with the hand when she approached him in the Commons to speak to him about something.We've seen the Rosemary, look inside yourself.He's taken on and that was to CBC's Rosemary Barton.

He's been chippy and dismissive to the Globe and Mail's Stephanie Levitz.You know, basically, if a female reporter asks him a question, he is nasty.You know, I've heard tales of staff walking up to give him briefing notes and he says, what's in it?And they say, well, I don't know.It's your briefing note.If you don't know what's in it, why are you bringing it to me?

And you'll just snap at them and tell them to go away.That can wear on your internal support, which can be problematic.But publicly right now, this guy can do no wrong.I had a conservative ask me,recently, when will Canadians wake up to the fact that Mark Carney's no good for us?And I said, well, it's kind of like your 17 -year -old daughter, and she's in love with her boyfriend who's a lout and is no good, but it doesn't matter how much you say, she's gonna love him.

And until one day she wakes up and says, this guy's a jerk, he can do no wrong.That's the period Mark Carney's in.I'd never expected a honeymoon to last quite like this.

Warren, last word to you.Does there come a point, and I don't think it's happening anytime soon, we're not going to a general election anytime soon, but there's going to be a brief moment when Carney loses this majority, but then he's going to get it right back once those by -elections are called.But does there come a point where the noise and the general frustration from some MPs becomes more of a rumbling and then all these things that Brian's talking about spilling out into the public and then it sort of seeps through.Or is this just one of those circumstances where people look at it and say, this is good management, you're the Prime Minister of the country, people need to be prepared when they talk to you.Is there going to be a point where people have said, I am very unhappy with this, and then go on the record, go even more public?What do you think?

Well, I confess, I've been a liberal, as you guys know, and I've worked for a liberal prime minister, and so I know a little bit about how they think.And, you know, there can be splits in a caucus.A couple of the big ones I can think of are the free trade fight back in the 80s, the Meach fight in the 90s.But for the most part, you hold on to your liberal caucus.This may not be the case for Tories or New Democrats.Liberals, you hold on to them by remaining popular.

So as Brian pointed out, as long as Carney is up there, you know, in the clouds,with the gods politically, he's going to be fine.It's where he doesn't get Kuzma and Donald Trump disappears and we've got a separatist party leading in the polls in Quebec as we do now.All that stuff, you know, piles up against your front door and Carney comes out every morning with his broom and he sweeps it away, but it, you know, gets, it starts piling up and getting to be too much.At that point, when you start to see the impact of that in the polls, that's when caucus start grumbling.Because at the end of the day, this guy, he's not a people person.

Now, neither was Stephen Harper per se, obviously didn't hurt him any.But you know, at some point, I think that can hurt him.You look at somebody like Mulroney, Mulroney went down to 12 % approval, and he still held on to his caucus.That's extraordinary.I don't see Mark Carney having that skill.

Mark Kearney's not the guy that's going to call you on your birthday or have you over for lunch at 24 Sussex.

That's true.So does this abrasive attitude work for Mark Kearney?Perhaps it does with the public, but it seems that some MPs don't like it very much.Well, let us know what you think in the comments below.Like this video and subscribe to our YouTube channel and go to thetorontosun .com.

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