John Ivison: After just one day, Carney’s cabinet already looks out of control

There have been concerns about the “presidentialization” of the Canadian prime ministership for years — worries that have been exacerbated by Mark Carney’s tendency to sign Trump-style legislative orders to grant tax cuts.

Academics have suggested that the cabinet has become nothing more than a focus group for the prime minister, who instead of being primus inter pares (first among equals) is now merely primus.

On the evidence of the new cabinet’s first day in office, that may be no bad thing.

Politicians who don’t know what they’re talking about should follow the old proverb: “A closed mouth gathers no foot.”

Yet on Wednesday, ministers rushed to the mics outside the cabinet room like turtle hatchlings dashing to the ocean to meet the waiting reef sharks.

The new housing minister, Gregor Robertson, was asked if house prices need to fall. “No, we need to deliver more supply to make sure the market is stable,” he said — a move that even a cabinet minister should be able to see would lower prices.

Millennials viewed this as an admission that the new minister doesn’t think housing should ever be affordable for their generation.

The implicit bargain is to protect the wealth of existing homeowners, while hinting at cheaper prices to come for new buyers.

The political imperative is to dance on the head of a pin, as Carney did Thursday when he was asked if he was signalling that he didn’t think prices should go down.

“You’d be very hard pressed to make that conclusion from everything I’ve said and what our priorities are,” he said, without committing himself one way or another.

Robertson wasn’t the only one to step in it.

Steven Guilbeault, the minister of Canadian identity, is apparently having separation anxiety from his old job as environment minister and, instead of sticking to his own lane, answered questions on pipeline policy.

Before Canada starts talking about building new pipelines, he said, it should maximize use of existing infrastructure like the Trans Mountain pipeline, which he claimed is operating at 40 per cent capacity.

Aside from the fact the company says it is utilizing 77 percent of its capacity, why is the culture minister offering opinions that land in the West like weeping gelignite? Surely, his job is to try to cultivate, rather than sabotage, a Canadian identity?

The comments were in stark contrast to the prime minister’s during a CTV interview the other day, when he said he supports building pipelines if the consensus exists for them. “I’m a prime minister who can help create that consensus,” he said, suggesting he is minded to try.

The third gaffe of the day belonged to Anita Anand, the new foreign affairs minister, who decided to wade into the quagmire of Middle East politics — with disastrous effect.