Primus sine paribus
It's Latin for "First Without Equals." Welcome to Carneyism.
In the exceedingly unlikely case that you’re still wondering who makes decisions in Mark Carney’s government, have a look at how one of the larger recent decisions got made.
In March, Carney was Canada’s prime minister campaigning for re-election, Bill Blair was the minister of national defence, and the government planned to start spending 2% of GDP on national defence in 2030.
On Monday Carney announced a new defence and security plan. The first time most people knew it was coming was when the PMO put out an advisory on Sunday. The new policy filled 60 lines of type and moved the 2030 target for hitting NATO’s 2% spending threshold forward half a decade.
David McGuinty is now the defence minister, so it’s probably time to update his Instagram profile.
McGuinty was on his way back from a NATO defence ministerial in Brussels when Carney made his announcement. There’s something to be said for letting defence ministers announce defence plans, but time waits for no man, and these days Ottawa runs on Carney time.
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