There’s an image you get when someone says “prime time address to the country.” A leader, seated at a desk, talking directly into the camera. It’s U.S.-style governing, where a presidential address happens only for select, highly notable moments (or highly political ones).

So when there were rumblings that Mark Carney would today speak to Canadians, that’s what I had in my mind. But, no. Mark goes back to his roots. He speaks for more than 30 minutes to a crowd of university students, largely rehashing the same points he’s made for the past 6 or 7 months about economic transformation, except tweaked to address the futures of those gathered before him.

At least that’s what I think he talked about. To be honest, I don’t really know, and I’ve run the video twice. As soon as he approached the platform it was familiar Mark, giving an address in his familiar style, for that predictable (long) length of time. My mind started to wander about 97 seconds in. See, this is what the politicos miss about Mark. He’s not really a political novice, since he understands what works.

Because that address wasn’t really “going back to his roots,” at all. Mark has one public persona, the same persona he’s had since he began his public life in 2008 or so. That persona got him elected and keeps him popular. So why, now, when we’re facing a devastating budget, should he switch up the playbook?

We as Canadians do not need much convincing that we live in extraordinary times, at least in how we’ve come to define those times. This week the president of the United States (aka he-who-shall-not-be-named) demolished the east wing of the White House to build a $250 million ballroom. We see this. We know these are not ordinary times.

So if this budget that’s tabled on November 4 is as bad as everyone says it will be, we’ll all just chalk it up to what it is: this strange, extraordinary time. And the opposition parties, much as they want to, can’t really pin this on Mark, even if there are priorities in the budget they don’t agree with. Because we as Canadians see two things: he-who-shall-not-be-named running a grift out of the White House, and Mark Carney, our wise elder who’s standing before us without worry or fear (speaking in that Mark Carney voice about who knows what for an extended period of time).

Carney may be neither wise nor an elder (those are subjective terms) depending on who you ask. But it doesn’t matter, because we trust him. We’re in it for the long haul with Mark. I think even if you’re an auto sector worker you’re in it with Mark. An election will just piss us off. So if the opposition parties know what’s best for them, and for us, they’ll vote to pass it. And give this government another few months, or a year until the next confidence vote, with Big Daddy at the helm.