Ozark
Every once in a while, the Liberal Party needs to launder itself
Who, me?
Mark Carney is the fourth consecutive leader of the Liberal Party of Canada with only a shallow and late-blooming relationship to the party’s structures and habits. I count it Ignatieff-Rae-Trudeau-Carney. There are obvious rebuttals — “Trudeau?” — but I have replies to them. And to the extent this frequent recourse to outsiders is something real — and a much older tradition in the party than even these four — the reasons for it are worth contemplating.
That the quintessential party of Canadian power has so often handed its fate to newcomers is part of its mystery. It also reflects a kind of refracted self-awareness. Every once in a while, the Liberals realize they have become unbearable to a chunk of the Canadian electorate big enough to threaten their continued success. So the party launders itself through a new leader. It’s not the Liberals’ only survival technique, but it’s one of the most striking, and one worth considering as we enter the last week of this odd campaign.