Mark Carney’s appointment as economic adviser shows Justin Trudeau’s lack of faith in key cabinet ministers

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When it comes to the economy, the federal Liberals are clearly out of ideas.

What else explains Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to bypass his cabinet ministers and legions of civil servants and outsource the job of setting the country’s business agenda to Mark Carney?

Mr. Carney, unveiled Monday at a Liberal caucus retreat as chair of the Leader’s Task Force on Economic Growth, can only be successful if he mows the grass of the politicians ostensibly responsible for building a more prosperous country. If the former central banker is now charged with fixing Canada’s deep-rooted productivity problems, what exactly are Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne doing with their days?

Appointing Mr. Carney is a political Hail Mary from a Prime Minister who finds himself way behind the Opposition late in his mandate.

It is a kick in the teeth to ambitious ministers such as Ms. Freeland, who spent her summer reading that the Prime Minister planned to move her out of her job, and Mr. Champagne, who has actually delivered growth as midwife to a domestic electric-vehicle industry.

Mr. Carney, a true believer in public service, has informally made himself available to Mr. Trudeau since the Liberals took power nine years ago. He’s also a sounding board for British prime ministers, the top brass at the United Nations and too many corporate and academic leaders to count. Volunteering in these roles, while still holding down day jobs at Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Bloomberg LP, is a tribute to Mr. Carney’s intellect and work ethic.

If the Prime Minister already had Mr. Carney on speed dial, why bestow the fancy new title? And why does a guy who previously ran the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England feel the need to accept this bauble?

From Mr. Trudeau’s point of view, Mr. Carney can be counted on to spend the remainder of the Liberal mandate generating smart, catchy concepts for turbocharging growth. Like a magician we’ve all seen before, the Prime Minister needs a few new tricks to satisfy an increasingly restless audience.

As a frustrated Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., steelworker told Mr. Trudeau recently, middle-class families promised “sunny ways” back in 2015 now feel poorer and more vulnerable. With an election on the horizon, something has to be done. Mr. Carney is going to help write the Prime Minister’s script for the coming campaign.

There is next to no chance anything Mr. Carney produces will qualify as original thinking. The federal Finance and Industry departments are wall-to-wall in policy wonks, all with serious intellectual horsepower. These civil servants were cranking out reams of ideas aimed at economic growth long before Mr. Trudeau took power.

Most of these policies never see the light of day, because the government has other priorities. For this Prime Minister, those priorities include winning the day’s headlines, rather than rolling out a consistent carbon-tax regime, with Maritime homeowners paying the same rates as Prairie farmers. This Prime Minister and his staff have a habit of ignoring data-based advice from the civil service in favour of splashy announcements of their own concoction, as former finance minister Bill Morneau detailed in his book Where To From Here.

Conservatives raise ethics concerns about Mark Carney’s advisory role with Liberals while serving on corporate boards

The challenge for the federal Liberals isn’t inspiration. It’s perspiration – a willingness to make economic growth the government’s priority, over wealth redistribution and social justice. Until the Prime Minister decides his business is working with business, Mr. Carney is just another bright, shiny object meant to distract voters from the grim realities of inflation, housing and a trip to the grocery store.

For Mr. Carney, everyone’s favourite prime-minister-in-waiting, a high-profile assignment from the Prime Minister is the perfect way to burnish his brand without the distraction of running for Parliament. If anything he suggests actually works, he’s a saviour. If the task force amounts to nothing, it’s the fault of a deeply unpopular government.

After leaving the Bank of England, Mr. Carney wrote an award-winning 600-page book – Value(s): Building a Better World for All – explaining how business and government can sing from the same songbook. He is on familiar ground as he prepares to tell Ms. Freeland and Mr. Champagne how to do their jobs better.

In a news conference on Monday, Mr. Carney said he accepted a leadership role on the task force because “I’m interested in doing something, not being something.” If what he produces in coming months gets the Prime Minister more focused on economic growth, that can only benefit Canada.

However, Mr. Carney’s appointment feels like window dressing from a government realizing it has lost the confidence of the business community and the middle class. A Hail Mary like this rarely wins the game.