'Happy coincidence' or master plan: How Carney's team full of Quebecers wants to govern Canada

National Post

a day ago

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Another possible effect is that the high-ranking Quebecers may also be asked to play a unique role in advancing the government's agenda if the government needs to 'sell' the notion of some of the government's proposed big infrastructure projects in that province, according to Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
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The odds of success regarding, for example, running a pipeline through Quebec are greater if high-profile Quebecers are playing a leading role in promoting the idea, she said.
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Beyond the policy, there are also no doubt political implications of the strong Quebec voice in the Carney government, a wide range of sources say.
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Firstly, many in Quebec expect that these senior figures, in conjunction with a Quebec caucus of 44 Liberal MPs — more than one quarter of the total Liberal contingent in the House of Commons — will be able to take good care of their home province over the next few years.
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Quebec Premier Francois Legault stated the case clearly. 'Mark Carney owes one to Quebecers,' he said after the Liberals claimed their best result in a federal election there since 1980.
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But the flip side, that Carney expects these Quebecers to also help execute the government's agenda in their home province, is likely also true.
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Beyond who will be best able to deliver for whom, there's also the intangible sense of understanding a part of a country or region. In an interview, Legault's intergovernmental affairs minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said in Carney's government 'there really is a positive change in attitude' and an 'openness toward Quebec' that wasn't always the case with the Trudeau government.
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Both in Quebec City and Ottawa, there is, at least for now, a feeling that having people from Quebec around the prime minister who know the province, its particularities and positions on language, culture, state secularism and immigration will facilitate a relationship that has often been rocky.
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The province wants Ottawa to understand its sense of autonomy, but also the need for investments in the province that 'Quebec has its share,' said Jolin-Barrette. 'We sense a greater openness. There is an openness in Ottawa. There is a better understanding of Quebec's issues now, with Mr. Carney.'
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Turnbull said Carney is clearly trying to show that Quebec is not at a disadvantage because he's from elsewhere.
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'There's some politics behind those parts of it,' she said.
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The Joly and Champagne appointments may have in part been rewards for supporting Carney during the Liberal leadership race, Turnbull said, when either could have been legitimate candidates themselves.
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The strong Quebec contingent may also play a role in national unity, at least in that province. The separatist movement is gaining ground in Quebec (and Alberta), with the Parti Québécois leading in every poll, with a provincial election in 2026­.
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But making a major electoral contribution to a government doesn't always guarantee anything. After the 1980 Liberal victory, when Quebecers supported the government with 74 seats out of 75, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau reached an agreement with all provinces, except Quebec, on a new constitution. More than four decades later, Quebec still hasn't signed, and the perceived betrayal is still very real for many in that province.
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Maybe, just maybe, like Sabia over a decade ago at the Caisse de dépôt, Carney is trying to be the anglophone that Quebec needs.
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