The prime minister as freespending hype man

If giving truly is better than receiving, I suppose the ballooning Liberal deficit is the mother of all Christmas cheer. Anyone feeling a twinge of disappointment over their haul this holiday season gave their list to the wrong fella in red. What’s the difference between Santa and the Trudeau government? Santa says “no” from time to time.

While Saint Nick is properly and festively profligate, he can’t indulge every toddler’s wish, lest he bankrupt parents or trigger a global pony shortage. Team Trudeau, on the other hand, has adopted Oprah’s Dream Giveaway Model of Governance™: you get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car!

Revenue un-neutral tax cuts? Full steam ahead. Don’t have enough cash, premiers? Here’s a few billion more. Too many potholes, mayors? I’ll send the paving crew right over. The sunlight of First Nations and union transparency getting in the way of your shade? Here’s your money, with no strings attached. Who knew sunny ways weren’t the best disinfectant?

Of course, spending like a festive sailor doesn’t make Trudeau unique. It makes him a politician. But like credit card statements in January, the bill one day comes due. And with a weak dollar and ropey economy, Canada’s day is tipped for sooner rather than later.

But who wants to play Scrooge during a government honeymoon? Better to promise the moon and hope no one notices the bloated post-dated bottom line.

In some ways, Santa is a tempting prism through which to see Trudeau: he’s jolly, likes to be photographed, and is a sympathetic ear for your wishes. But it misses the trick.

While the key to Trudeau’s appeal for some is undoubtedly his government’s coin, for the lay population it’s his energy. It’s infectious and irrepressible.

Trudeau’s not there to peck out government policy, not yet anyway. He’s there to keep his team — and the population — moving. He’s the hype man prime minister.

For those of you who’ve never stumbled upon a hip hop org chart, the hype man didn’t drop beats (DJ) or spit rhymes (MC), his job was to hype the crowd. As the opposition struggles to define their public (policy) enemy, they need to understand that Justin Trudeau isn’t Chuck D. He’s Flavour Flav.

This isn’t to belittle Trudeau. Energy is a grossly undervalued political commodity. How much energy do you think Team Harper had rolling into the last campaign? The word you’re looking for is “zero.” The Liberal campaign — both in contrast and absolute terms — was a thunderbolt.

And so it’s been since their swearing in as a government. Everywhere you look there is ambition afoot. On refugees. On taxes. On federal-provincial relations. On indigenous peoples. On climate change. These kinds of policy objectives won’t get realized without cultivated goodwill and a thermonuclear explosion of political energy. Enter the hype man.

Selfies to motivate civil servants. Hugs for lonely and ignored premiers. Encouragement and support for new ministers. Heartfelt greetings for the first Syrian refugees. Optimistic end-of-year interviews. Yeeeah, boy!

This is a profound change for Canadians grown accustomed to the taciturn ways of their last prime minister.

Stephen Harper preferred to be the private centre of a shrinking government, not the cheerleader for an expanding one. The last government didn’t need a hype man because most of what it wanted to achieve involved downing government tools.

A prime minister who believes in big government needs energy. A prime minister who doesn’t needs discipline. Stephen Harper could give you chapter and verse on every single policy file in front of the Cabinet because he wanted to understand if he could kill it.

It comes as no surprise that Justin Trudeau doesn’t subscribe to Stephen Harper’s version of the job. But Trudeau understands and embraces his role with as much ardour as Stephen Harper understood and embraced his, and that makes him an effective leader.

A honeymoon is easy to hype. It won’t last. The ailing economy will temper some aims. Ministerial cock-ups will sink others. Sure, the premiers are purring now, but they’ll be surly later. Hype buys early room to manoeuvre, but Trudeau will have to layer in more substance as he grows into the job of prime minister.

Canadians will love their hype man as long as they see their government delivering.

Trudeau wants Canadians to feel good about themselves and optimistic about their future. He’ll need his cabinet dropping sick beats and spitting dope policy rhymes to make that happen.

Public Enemy was an epochdefining hip hop group when Chuck D had something to say, Professor Griff had fresh beats, and Flavor Flav an audience to hype. The moment Chuck D got writer’s block the crowds went elsewhere, and Flavour Flav was just a reality TV star with a huge clock around his neck telling him his time was up.