By Pepper Parr
May 21st, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
When you have someone with this kind of clout saying something about what the federal government is doing – it would be worth your time to listen.
Jaime Watt specializes in complex public strategy issues, serving both domestic and international clients in the corporate, professional services, not-for-profit, and government sectors. Widely regarded as Canada’s leading high stakes communications strategist.
Jaime Watt is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist. He is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star.
Jaime Watt is the Executive Chairman of Navigator and a bestselling author. He specializes in complex public strategy issues, serving both domestic and international clients in the corporate, professional services, not-for-profit, and government sectors.
Widely regarded as Canada’s leading high stakes communications strategist, he is a trusted advisor to boards of directors, business and professional leaders as well as political leaders at all three levels of government across Canada. Jaime has led ground-breaking election campaigns that have transformed politics because of their boldness and creativity.
Here is what he had to say about newly appointed Cabinet members in the past few days.
When the boss promotes you, trusts you with a new, important file, it’s a good idea to stay on message. Reinforce the mandate. Show people why you deserved the nod.
Earlier this week, Gregor Robertson, the newly minted Housing Minister, told reporters he didn’t believe housing prices should go down. Not to be outdone, Steven Guilbeault explained to Western Canada that the country doesn’t need more pipelines right now. Both, predictably, drew media attention and public ire.
Steven Guilbeault is a cabinet veteran with strong roots in Quebec – something Carney does not have. While he needs Guilbeault, not at any price.
But the real and enduring problem for Prime Minister Mark Carney is not just that these statements directly contradict promises he made on the campaign trail — to bring down home prices and build greater energy infrastructure. Robertson was Mayor of Vancouver for a decade. Guilbeault is a cabinet veteran, and no stranger to statements that inflame Western Canada and its energy sector.
The real, more insidious issue for the Prime Minister is what these statements represent: the temptation to be distracted from the very mission that got them elected in the first place.
The weeks and months that follow an election are when governments are most prone to scoring on their own net. These are the kind of self-inflicted mistakes that drain a government’s credibility. The kind that comes back to bite you the next time voters head to the polls.
But crucially, these missteps almost always stem from the same source: a fundamental misreading of why you were elected — and what voters expected you to deliver.
It’s a strange and dangerous irony of politics that just when your mandate should be at its sharpest — fresh off a campaign — the temptation to misinterpret it is at its peak. The tunnel vision of the election clears and suddenly ministers begin seeing their new roles not as extensions of the public will, but as blank canvases for their personal agendas.
Champaigne announced that there would not be a budget this year. The Prime Minister announced a day later that there would be a budget this year.
Prime Minister Mark Carney: He will continually need to direct and discipline his Cabinet.
It is the leader’s job — above all — to arrest that drift. To enforce clarity. To instill message discipline. And to continually remind every member of their cabinet and caucus why they’re sitting on the government side of the House of Commons — and not wandering in the political wilderness.
In this election, Canadian voters were exceptionally clear on what they wanted: Mark Carney to take on Donald Trump. A decisive turn from the Trudeau years. Real answers on productivity, competitiveness, and growth.
For the new Prime Minister, the assignment couldn’t be clearer — or less forgiving. Because Canadian voters have left no margin for error. This is a relatively thin mandate. And to preserve it, Carney must not only stick to the plan — but communicate an unrelenting focus on delivering it.
So, here’s the bottom line. The biggest risk to Carney isn’t the opposition benches — it’s the risk of losing the plot. It’s misunderstanding the very assignment he was elected to complete. Of forgetting, too soon, what voters actually asked for.
That’s the test in the short term and that’s the test that will define him the next time Canadians cast their votes.
Add to that the task that voters have: keep the feet of the elected close to the flames. Don’t let them get too full of themselves.
So far it looks like Carney does not have control of the leftover Trudeau Left Wingers.