The newly elected Carney government is having start-up problems.

Naming a cabinet and running a freshly elected government is not as easy as the game those of us of a certain age used to play as kids called, Pick-Up Sticks. Every slim stick one moved, the chances were good that you would disturb another, and if you are not careful the whole thing can come crashing down.

Several time now, Prime Minister Carney has made it a top priority to visit Mr. Trump, or in his very first week in the big chair, to visit with European leaders, and then do more of that following the death of  much-loved Pope Francis and the naming of Pope Leo.
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All that is well and good, but the country needs some old-fashioned bread and butter politics just now. For instance, the PM needs to ensure a good, personalized mandate letter is crafted for each minister, not just a carbon copy (remember that one?) with clear priorities for each minister. The personal touch matters in politics: “Hello Joe, sorry about the death of your Mum.”

Then there are the bruised egos of those who didn’t make it into the PM’s cabinet, or in some cases, were not invited back into cabinet after a caretaker role during the election campaign. One of the more outspoken ministers dropped was Nat Erskine-Smith, who was named to the housing portfolio late in the Justin Trudeau era. Erskine-Smith is a young, energetic MP representing the Beaches riding in Toronto. He said he couldn’t help but feel “disrespected” after receiving the call from PM Carney that he is being dropped from cabinet. It’s different for an older war horse like Bill Blair, who served long and well as Defence Minister. A political career snuffed out at 41 is difficult to take.

Not to harp on the Prime Minister’s experience as a banker, but it is difficult to see Carney putting the time in with his cabinet and caucus the way successful First Ministers such as former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney or Frank McKenna took pride in. No constituency issue was too minor for these very successful politicians. It wasn’t just a chore for them, they enjoyed it. Hence, the massive outpouring of grief when Mulroney died.

National observers have noted that by not having years of experience in politics Carney does not bring along large numbers of proteges who served as assistants and spear carriers in the rough and tumble of the game. His closest friends and associates are from the banking or financial world. One of his big problems now is that he has not settled on a permanent chief of staff for his PMO.

These days, communications experience is also vital in politics. Hob-knobbing with journalists isn’t Carney’s favorite skill, in fact he has been criticized for being impatient with, especially, female reporters.

Where Carney is incredibly skilled is in providing clear leadership. But the “how” is as important as the “what” in politics. Jean Chretien was a master of the light-hearted remark and personal warmth, but when the time came, he could take the tough decision as he did in 2003 to keep Canada out of the Iraq War. No decision in the history of this country gave a clearer message of independence from American foreign policy.

The Prime Minister is not the only Canadian politician adjusting to a new role. Pierre Poilievre is doing his best to respond to his personal defeat in the election, and to his Conservative Party suffering its fourth consecutive election defeat. It will be hard for the inflexible Poilievre to be humble and show that he can be flexible as well.

Poilievre had the opportunity to do the riskier and more courageous thing and seek a seat in a by-election in the Beauce riding in Quebec. Instead, he made the choice of going to Alberta to find a safe seat there, Battle River-Crowfoot. But now that choice also has its complications with the nascent movement for Alberta to separate from the rest of the country. It seems very unlikely that movement will be successful, but it happens that the separatist movement is quite strong in the riding where he has chosen to seek the nomination. Some separatists would like to “hold Poilievre’s feet to fire” in the by-election, expected in August. Alberta nationalists have already characterized the Conservative leader as a parachute candidate from Ottawa.

Few expect Poilievre to lose the riding, but there is potential for embarrassment if he is caught in the crossfire between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and PM Carney. It would be unheard of to see the leader of a national political party in Canada fraternizing with separatist forces. But Smith is not above using the separatist movement to strengthen her hand with Ottawa.

For this part PM Carney would do well to spend more of his time at home in the coming months in dealing with delicate energy and environment matters with Smith. Donald Trump and his tariffs will always be Carney’s number one concern, but he will be making a huge mistake if he ignores western grievances. A great opportunity to let Alberta shine will be the June 15-17 G-7 meetings hosted by Canada at Kananaskis, Alta.
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Meantime the PM should seek and find an excellent chief of staff and take a crash course on “people politics” from his colleagues, such as New Brunswick’s Dominic LeBlanc. Mr. Carney does not want to be left alone rearranging those pesky “pickup sticks.”