Round one of the battle between spring hockey and electioneering was won by the NHL when the much-maligned Leaders’ Debates Commission blinked first and moved the French-language debate to accommodate a Habs game. Despite being a goalie (and even with his poll numbers potentially softening from their peak), in the waning days of the campaign, Mark Carney’s travel schedule appears to show him on the offensive, targeting potential new areas of growth for the Liberals, while Pierre Poilievre’s planned visit to his own long-held riding is raising eyebrows.
Do you change your starting goalie when you’re struggling in a series? Surely those Conservatives who were measuring the curtains in PMO and building lists of companies and organizations to retaliate against for engaging with the Liberal government on climate policy wish they had devoted themselves to more productive endeavours. In other sports news, how bad must internal Conservative polling be about their leader’s negatives that their golfers ad uses neither his image nor name?
Yves-François Blanchet might be in the penalty box. Progressive voters and a segment of Quebecers appear to be in the mood for a version of nation-building, and are at least temporarily casting aside the usual Bloc focus on breaking things apart. Quebec voters are notoriously fickle, often changing tendencies at the last minute, but the Bloc has not found an obvious catalyst issue or event this time. In 2025 the hockey team loyalty of Canadians exceeds our relatively low levels of party loyalty.
Jagmeet Singh appears to be losing by a couple of goals late in the third period of an elimination game, with his leadership and NDP official party status on the line. Late this week I was surprised to hear an NDP candidate plead for local votes to ‘help make Mark Carney a great PM!’
Just as playoff hockey is a chess match of line-matching coaches, election campaigns are at least as much about operations as they are an exchange of ideas. Parties and their workers and volunteers expend efforts to identify their voters and mobilize them to physically vote. Systems, data, unglamorous project management and driving stragglers to schools and community centres are critical to victory. It is a good sign for Liberals that in some ridings, over 50% of their identified voters cast their ballots during advanced polls last weekend. Unless we adopt Australia’s mandatory voting, this is our reality.
Every NHL playoff coach wants to mentally prepare his team by positioning them as the underdog – under promise and over deliver. In early 2025, Mark Carney’s French was disparaged enough that his recent appearances on Tout le monde en parle and his French-language debate performance seemed not half bad. Overall, his debate performances weren’t feisty and combative, and left several key criticisms unanswered. But so far, rather than being punished at the polls for looking weak, he may be rewarded for appearing calm when Canadians are looking for more leadership and less snark.
He has been a politician for mere months in a country without a history of technocrat PMs. This may serve him well at this political moment. Is he learning the cut and thrust of retail politics enough to serve him well in the hard years ahead? We are one forest fire or flood season away from climate change again being front and centre in the national discourse.
I write this as I fly East from Oilers territory over Saskatchewan – a place I called home for four years. The Liberals are hoping to exceed their Alberta-Saskatchewan seat totals of five from 2015 (two today). Also, rural representation west of Northern Ontario and south of 60 would help give a Carney government some credibility as it faces looming national unity challenges both from without and within Canada. With the concepts of US-centric friend and ally shoring in tatters, voices at the cabinet table who understand that Western Canada’s international trade interests don’t revolve principally around automotive, steel and aerospace would be welcome. (Despite best efforts, there is only so much High Commissioner Ralph Goodale can accomplish for Saskatchewan from his post in England.)
I’m not sure this election will be going into overtime on Monday night, but the few three- or four-way races from Trois-Rivières to Vancouver Island could keep things interesting for the first time in several years.
A surge in Canadian nationalism might feel welcome in the short term, feeding our playoff cheers and helping us to question our purchasing and travel choices. However, Pierre Trudeau reminded us many decades ago that excessive nationalism will eventually become ‘corrosive’.
We need this election behind us so our leaders can more rationally address our economic and security future within North America and beyond, and find the right opening to negotiate with the Trump Administration. Hopefully our new leader will hold his government accountable to swiftly deliver the promised investment and nation-building that our country requires. Go [insert your favourite team here] Go! Allez!
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