Liberal MP Wayne Long said there’s been a shift in leadership style in the government under new Prime Minister Mark Carney, which he expects will have an impact on how operations are being run.
“I think we’re going to see our government run like a corporation, which I think is long overdue,” Long told reporters before the first meeting of the new cabinet in Ottawa on May 14.
Long, a New Brunswick MP, was appointed as secretary of state for the Canada Revenue Agency and financial institutions on May 13, when Carney’s new cabinet was sworn in. Carney appointed 10 secretaries of state to support the 29 ministers in their duties.
Carney is a former central banker and held multiple roles in the corporate sector before entering politics, including board chair of large investment firm Brookfield Asset Management.
Long was the first Liberal MP to publicly call for former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation when discontent was brewing in 2024 following the Liberal Party’s loss of two strongholds in separate byelections. He later called for the Liberal Party to move more towards the political centre after a decade under Trudeau’s leadership.
When asked by reporters whether Long has already seen a shift in Carney’s leadership style from that of Trudeau’s, Long said he had.
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“Oh my gosh, I think so,” he replied. “I think Mark Carney is exactly what the country’s needed and needs. He’s well spoken, he’s thoughtful, he’s focused.”
Internal Trade, Resources
Carney ran his party leadership and election campaigns on the pledge to strengthen Canada’s economy, including by taking down internal trade barriers and speeding up the approval of resource projects.
These matters were addressed by other ministers on their way to the cabinet meeting.
“Internal trade has become sexy,” said Chrystia Freeland, who kept her role of minister of transport and internal trade in Carney’s new cabinet.
Freeland said a number of provincial and territorial premiers have reached out to her directly after the cabinet announcement to express support for measures to tackle internal trade barriers.
Freeland mentioned a paper by the Internal Monetary Fund from 2019 which suggested removing these barriers would boost Canada’s GDP by about 4 percent.
“That is a lot, and we need it right now, and I really believe this is a moment we can get it done,” she said.
On the issue of resource projects and infrastructure, Carney told CTV News on May 13 that he would support the building of new pipelines if there’s a consensus. “I’m a prime minister who can help create that consensus,” he said.
It appears that consensus is not currently found within cabinet, after Canadian Culture and Identity Minister Steven Guilbeault questioned the idea of new pipelines before the ministers’ meeting on May 14.
Guilbeault, who was previously the environment minister and has been the minister of Canadian identity since March, noted in his comments that Ottawa purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline and said it’s running at about 40 percent capacity.
“I think before we start talking about building an entire new pipeline, maybe we should maximize the use of existing infrastructure,” he said.
The Trans Mountain system has a capacity of 890,000 barrels per day and had a throughput of 681,000 barrels a day in December 2024, according to the Canada Energy Regulator, which amounts to 76 percent capacity.
Guilbeault also said “no company” wants to build an East-West pipeline in Canada. During the election campaign, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pledged to build such a pipeline and repeal the Impact Assessment Act (Bill C-69) to get the project approved, saying that without doing so investors will not be interested.
Carney told CTV News on May 13 he would consider bringing changes to Bill C-69 “in order for projects to move forward.”
Asked by reporters to comment on the matter, Guilbeault said “these are important conversations that we will need to have in the coming weeks.”
Finding new markets for Canadian oil, the country’s most valuable export by a large margin, has been a hot topic of conversation in the context of tariffs from the United States. The relationship with the United States, which buys almost all of Canada’s crude oil, has soured since U.S President Donald Trump began threatening tariffs and making Canada the “51st state” following his election in November 2024.
There has also been revived talks about building a pipeline to bring Western oil to Eastern provinces, since current routes go through the United States.
