» SNOBELEN: Carney’s biggest challenge is learning to be a leader

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Former Ontario finance minister Floyd Laughren was fond of saying that you need two things to become a successful politician: Grey hair and hemorrhoids. He explained that grey hair made you look wise and the hemorrhoids made you look concerned.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney may put Laughren’s theory to the test. Carney is undoubtedly smart. He appears to be concerned. But the brief election campaign did little to expose the wisdom of Carney or his rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

The Liberal and Conservative backrooms can congratulate themselves on good campaigns. The Liberal political gurus, who rode Trudeau until he crashed and then jumped to Carney, can afford to be a little smug. Heck, they have “won” four elections in a row and winning doesn’t take much explaining.

The Conservative politicos can point to significant gains, notwithstanding the headwinds from the dumpster fire now raging in the U.S., where President Donald Trump has made the right side of the political spectrum untenable around the globe, and the Conservatives can rightly claim that they did better than might reasonably be expected.

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So, everyone can take a little victory lap. The Conservatives survived and the Liberals eked out another minority government.

Steve Earle described the beginning of President Bill Clinton’s second term as “getting into gear for four more years of things not getting worse.” In Canada, the theme for the last four elections has been the promise of things only getting a little worse. That is a failure on the part of both campaigns and marks the real test of Carney’s wisdom and leadership.

No doubt the “transformative” president, Trump, has brought Canadians together and renewed, for the moment, our national resolve. But the election campaign did little to forge the burst of patriotism into a bold new strategy.

America has lurched away from global leadership, leaving a vacuum that will quickly be filled by other nations. This is a time of historic change.

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Canada stands on the edge of that change. In 2015, the message was “Canada’s back.” A decade later, the notion of a “back” seems nostalgic.

This is the moment when Canada can leap forward, resolving long-simmering internal disputes, fixing internal trade, restoring fiscal discipline and championing global trade. It is a time to be bold.

Measured against the challenge of the times, the campaigns of the Liberals and Conservatives were pipsqueakian.

The very old among us will recall a different time when a new generation of leadership arose in America and challenged that nation and the world to do better. The poetry of the day stands in stark contrast to the darkness of today’s political chant.

Nearly 65 years ago, a politician challenged and encouraged the best of his people. He displayed the courage and optimism required by every citizen.

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“In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our cause. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty.

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

John F. Kennedy challenged his nation to do better. He did not shrink from the ultimate obligation of leadership — pointing the way to a better future.

This is the real test of leadership that faces Mark Carney — showing the way and challenging the nation.

We are eager to be led.

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