Michael Taube: The Liberal minister who would give it all up for a taste of lobster

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Liberal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay posted a photo of himself on X eating a lobster in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during a week-long political tour. It got him into some hot water on social media — and not from the liquid in the pot used to boil his crustacean pal.

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I was among those who immediately grimaced. This had nothing to do with the fact that he was eating lobster, which I also enjoy. Rather, it was because of what was painfully wrong about this photo, and what MacAulay could have done differently that would have been viewed in a more positive light.

How could MacAulay ever think that posting an unprofessional looking photo of him smiling and eating a lobster in a restaurant in a foreign country would be anything other than a public relations nightmare? This isn’t the Seinfeld episode where they ate lobster in the Hamptons, or Homer Simpson tearfully eating his delicious lobster pet Pinchy. It’s real life, and the photo made MacAulay look completely out of touch.

Many Canadians are struggling financially, including in MacAulay’s PEI. The affordability crisis is hurting individuals and families. The difficulty in putting food on the table, including staples like bread, milk, eggs, bacon and butter, is real. Seeing a photo of a Liberal minister eating a lobster dinner while others are barely getting by strikes of tone deafness.

Yes, many Atlantic Canadians enjoy eating lobster, along with crab, shrimp and other treasures from the sea, when they can. We all know this. At the same time, it’s still viewed as a luxury item in Canada as compared to other food items — especially to those in PEI and elsewhere who are struggling to make ends meet.

Members of MacAulay’s political staff should have advised him not to post the photo in the first place. Plus, he’s not a political rookie — and should have known better.

He has represented the federal riding of Cardigan in Prince Edward Island since 1988. He’s never lost an election. MacAulay is the longest-serving MP in PEI history, and broke that record in 2014. He held two ministerial roles under former prime minister Jean Chrétien (labour, solicitor general), and three under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (associate minister of national defence, veterans affairs, and currently agriculture and agri-food).

When you put everything together, that’s a significant amount of political experience. More than enough to realize posting that photo on X was a poor idea.

The irony? MacAulay could have posted a much different photo that would have worked to his political advantage.

I know this from experience. When I worked in the Prime Minister’s Office many moons ago, my main role was to write speeches, statements and the like for then-prime minister Stephen Harper. That’s not all I did, however. The speechwriters also helped script out events from start to finish. We provided preliminary ideas related to where we felt the PM should stand during his speech, what he should wear, who should accompany him on the stage or next to the lectern, our vision for the backdrop, possible photo-ops, and so on.

Not all of our ideas were used. Much like the words we filed, there would always be changes, revisions, input from others and, undoubtedly, new drafts. That’s how things work in politics, and you can’t get too worked up about it.

Here’s what MacAulay could have done.

He and his ministerial staff could have set up a photo-op or video clip with a Malaysian minister in a similar portfolio to visit a lobster farm. Malaysia has long been the world’s leader in farming and raising the spiny lobster, so it would have been easy for them to arrange. Plus, it would have helped promote the country he’s visiting — and, more importantly, showed him hard at work for Canada.

He could have taken a photo with the restaurateur in Kuala Lumpur, along with some restaurant staff and family members (if any worked there) in front of a tank of live lobsters. In other words, promote a small business owner and show that Canada recognizes the importance of the Malaysian market when we export our seafood.

Or, he could have done a side-by-side photo with lobster from both Atlantic Canada and Malaysia. This could have been accomplished with either stock photo images or lobster contained in tanks or cages. The Minister is in Malaysia to “promote our world-class products,” according to his post on X. This type of photo could have helped accomplish this lofty goal.

That’s not what MacAulay did. More than 2.1 million people have viewed his photo (as of this writing), and most comments have been negative. He didn’t help promote the faltering Liberal brand in Canada, either.

On the plus side, the lobster looked good. Maybe that’s the only thing he really cared about.

National Post