I Trust the Pilot… I’m Not Sure About the Passengers
For the first time in my life, I voted Liberal... and I didn’t hate myself for it.
I’ll say this straight out, because I don’t play games with my readers…
I have more faith in Mark Carney than I’ve had in any leader in my lifetime.
That doesn’t mean blind trust.
It means… for once… I’m not squinting, bracing, or holding my nose.
And that alone tells you how unusual this moment is.
Let’s get something else out of the way
I couldn’t stand Justin Trudeau.
Not because I enjoy disliking politicians… I don’t.
But because after a while, it felt like I was being sold a brand instead of being shown a plan.
And on the other side?
Pierre Poilievre made me sick.
Not in a dramatic way… in a gut-level, this isn’t going anywhere good kind of way.
So if you want to know where I was before this shift?
I was stuck.
If Trudeau hadn’t stepped aside… if Carney hadn’t stepped in…
I would’ve been staring at a ballot thinking….
“How the hell did it come to this?”
And then something changed
Not overnight. Not because of a speech.
Because of how Carney shows up.
No theatrics.
No yelling.
No slogans designed to get applause from one side and rage from the other.
Just clarity.
Calm.
Measured.
Connected thinking.
The kind of thinking that doesn’t try to win the moment… it tries to solve the problem.
And after years of noise?
That hits different.
But here’s where I draw the line
I trust the pilot.
I’m not sure about the passengers.
Because what he’s talking about doing isn’t small.
It’s not a policy tweak or a headline grab.
It’s a shift.
Less dependence on the U.S.
More resilience inside our own system
Tougher decisions that don’t feel good right away
And here’s the part nobody likes to say out loud…
Big change comes with a bill.
And I don’t know if we’ll pay it
We say we want independence.
We say we want strength.
We say we want long-term thinking.
But the moment…
costs go up
comfort goes down
or one province feels like it’s losing
That’s when the cracks show.
Canada isn’t one machine.
It’s a collection of provinces, priorities, and personalities… all pulling in slightly different directions.
And there are a couple of premiers out there right now who look less like partners… and more like obstacles waiting for a microphone.
This is the real test
Not whether Carney is smart enough.
He is.
Not whether the plan makes sense.
It does.
The real question is…
Can he move a country that isn’t used to being pushed?
Can he…
sequence change so people don’t revolt halfway through
show results before patience runs out
keep enough alignment that the whole thing doesn’t stall
Because if he can’t…
It won’t be because the pilot didn’t know how to fly.
It’ll be because the passengers started fighting mid-air.
Where I stand
For the first time in my life, I voted Liberal.
Not because I changed who I am.
Because I recognized something I hadn’t seen before.
Competence.
Direction.
A sense that someone understands the scale of what’s happening… and isn’t trying to sugarcoat it.
But let me be clear
People can change.
Power changes people. Pressure changes people. Politics definitely changes people.
So my position stays simple…
He’s earned my attention… not my blind trust.
Final thought
If this works…
If he actually manages to get this machine moving in the same direction…
It won’t just be impressive.
It’ll be something close to a miracle.
Because for once, the question isn’t…
“Do we have the right leader?”
It’s…
“Are we the kind of country that can follow one?”
The Recap…
For the first time in my life, I voted Liberal.
Not because I changed sides… because I saw something different.
I trust the pilot.
I’m just not sure about the passengers.
This one’s going to test all of us.
The Gut-Punch…
“It’s not the plan I’m worried about… it’s whether we have the discipline to live with it.”
Source Credit:
Opinion based on public appearances and policy direction of Mark Carney.
🔎 The GeezerWise Standard
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Everything you wrote, Fred, can be said of my journey with politics in our country in the last two years.
Furthermore, we are among thousands across our country coast to coast to coast who felt frustrated and disgusted with what was happening in our government with the Trudeau-Poilievre Silly Bugger Games through the summer into autumn of 2024.
By the holiday season, many of us were in despair for our options and worried for our beloved country's future.
Then I just happened to watch a Canadian guy on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on January 13, 2025 and my life has been forever altered 100% for the better.
Every day since has been a process of purposefully awakening my Canadian pride, raising my elbows, sharing my hopes for the future, and making positive decisions. I traded in my former federal party affiliation for the Liberal Party of Canada with some initial trepidation, but now, great pride and relief. It's actually like a miracle.
All because of one man whom you have correctly identified as the pilot. And even with the three things that PM Carney has said and done that irked me somewhat, I have never lost the one thing our whole country really needs right now: Trust in the Leader, along with it's very important corollary — Confidence.
Carney gives me Confidence in Canada! And for this and your Substack that keeps reminding me of this, I am really grateful.
Thank you! ❤️🇨🇦
A LOT of us voted Liberal because we voted for Mark Carney. In the past, a lot of us voted Liberal because elections had been reduced to a 2-way race and we were actually voting in hopes of preventing a so-called CPC "majority". We did not want to hand 100% of the power to a right wing party even while many of us recognized that the Liberal Party had also drifted towards the right. Many of us would describe ourselves as democratic socialists who have been dismayed that the NDP had drifted so far towards the centre that voters in general didn't see much daylight between them and the Liberals. Especially since Liberal campaigns offer "lefty" promises that they don't follow through on once in power. Trudeau's "promise of electoral reform" clinched votes from many NDPers during the 2015 election. A majority of eligible voters were determined to at the very least take away Harper's majority. The age old concern that our archaic FPTP electoral system would once again split the progressive vote ended up in strategic voting that handed Trudeau an unexpected majority. With his majority he conveniently found an excuse to change his mind on electoral reform. In the next election he only got a minority. FINALLY during that session, the NDP were able to force the Liberals to pass some progressive legislation including bringing in the first stage of denltalcare an anti-scab law. The Liberal govt took full credit and once again the majority of voters missed the point of the strength of a minority government. More importantly, voters missed the point of how valuable it is to have serious debate and discussion in parliament. I believe that under Avi Lewis the NDP has a fearless truly progressive leader and a serious politician who has the best interests of the people at heart. I wish that instead of repeating every blathering idiotic statement coming out of PP's mouth that fair consideration will be given to the points that Lewis makes.