Moore-Butts - Managing a Caucus - How To Spot Problems?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello there, I'm Peter Mansbridge. Just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Tuesday. That means more butts today. That's coming right up.
And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here, along with Gerald Butts and James Moore. It's another conversation and a couple of interesting topics today. We'll start with this one. Twice in the last week, a major newspaper in Canada... has done reporting suggesting that there are tensions, let's put it that way, within the Liberal caucus meetings between the Prime Minister and those who are in attendance. There have been the occasional testy moments. Now, it's being denied by caucus management. I don't think it would be surprising that there were testy moments within any caucus at different times. But how do you, as both of you have been in caucus one way or another, James as a member and Jerry as a principal secretary to a prime minister, and also earlier than that as a premier in Ontario, not Jerry as a premier, but as a principal secretary.
How should we look at this situation? Kind of a story. James, why don't you start?
Also doing business, normal push and pull of things. When Prime Minister Carney is, though, at the mid-40s and the Conservatives are in the mid-30s, so you have this strong gap in terms of electoral outcomes. Some people say, well, he's really popular, so why are people speaking out? I think people speak out or leak out, at least to Althea Raj, because they think that they can and there's not really any consequence to it. The Prime Minister has lots of strength and support. He has his majority in Parliament that will probably be a durable one, depending on how the by-elections go and other floor crossings and if other block MPs leave, the whole dynamic we know. But if it turns into a durable majority and he's got wind in his sails, well...
maybe now's the time to speak out. Maybe now's the time to sort of, you know, let my elbows out. If the, you know, what, seven of the last eight elections have yielded minority parliaments, six of the last eight, rather.
What tensions are reported within Mark Carney's caucus?
And so when you have a minority parliament, you feel really kind of, bound in by the risk of the limits of your mandate. You've got to support the leader. We've got to be careful. Things are thin. We're trying to accomplish what we can. But now that we have this, then people can start speaking out. To give credit as well, frankly, to the prime minister, it shows that he's trying to do stuff. that he's willing to offend people and upset people. And that's okay. Because I think there's, there's, there's room for that. Another part of this is also just a very human element, you know, 175 people in a room, you know, these are 175 different people who come from different parts of the country who might have actually have a different cultural workplace expectation.
And so there's, there's actually cultural divides in Canada, but how you deal with one another, there are people who are elected, who have been elected for 20 years. There are people who come came in with the, frankly, with the Justin Trudeau crew who have a, hug hellos in a different way of doing things. At least that's your perception. Jerry can clarify. But there's a different sort of habits and values and mores and dispositions and way in which you sort of operate on a daily basis. Mark Carney has a different one. Some people like the Trudeau one. Some people like the Carney one. The inverse is true. The people who don't like the status quo are going to whine a little bit. This is all kind of ebb and flow, normal stuff.
The fact there's a story about it, maybe it's a slow news week. It's not a slow news week, but it's an interesting news week. And So yeah, I don't think it's a big thing. It could spin out of control if he's seen to be obtuse and you have a cohort of people from a particular region or a particular ideological window of the liberal universe who might coalesce around this dissatisfaction of style coupled with substance that could then weaponize against the leader. I don't think there's any evidence of that yet.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:18
2
What tensions are reported within Mark Carney's caucus?
2:18–4:10
3
How do personal dynamics affect caucus meetings?
4:10–6:32
4
What insights do former officials provide on caucus management?
6:32–14:01
5
How do cultural differences impact caucus interactions?
14:01–18:35
6
What role does media play in shaping perceptions of political leaders?
18:35–43:51
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge
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