COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – Mark Carney is no reformer

As the liberal legacy media continue to publish glowing articles proclaiming Mark Carney to be Canada’s prime minister, Canadians have a right to know the truth about what they are getting.

Carney holds degrees from Harvard and Oxford and spent 13 years in the private sector working for top finance firm Goldman Sachs. He served under two prime ministers (Martin and Harper) at the department of finance and then as the governor of the Bank of Canada. He later served as governor of the Bank of England. It is obvious he has a better understanding of economics than Trudeau, his cabinet, and his fellow leadership candidates put together.

However, when one begins to dig a bit deeper, some serious problems emerge.

The first thing that should be of deep concern for Canadians is the fact that Mr. Carney has been handpicked, and his campaign is being run by the same people who brought you Justin Trudeau. Trudeau’s best friend, radical activist Gerald Butts is behind Carney’s candidacy and that alone should give Trudeau-weary Canadians cause to pause. That Butts and other Trudeau handlers are so gung-ho for Mark Carney is deeply troubling. It is also worth noting the majority of Trudeau’s cabinet—most notably radical socialist and climate alarmist Stephen Guilbeault—have all thrown their support behind Carney.

Until now, Mr. Carney has avoided running for political office, this despite many people, including Trudeau, begging him to do so. Carney has dipped his toes in the water a few times but he has always run at the first sign of trouble.

This reluctance to engage in the political battle reveals an underlying weakness and self-interest that Canadians cannot afford at such a crucial moment.

Carney’s claims that it was he, not Stephen Harper, who was responsible for Canada’s successful handling of the 2008/09 financial crisis, and more recently that Harper sought him out to replace the late Jim Flaherty as finance minister are dubious to say the least. He seems to be confusing Harper and Flaherty (a competent PM and finance minister) with the recent Trudeau-Freeland drama.

There is also an alarming harmony in terms of policy between Carney and the man he plans to replace—the same failed policies that got Canada into the mess we’re in.

Despite his less than credible promise to scrap the consumer carbon tax—what he has, until now, referred to as the “Gold standard for the world”—Carney has been a long-term supporter of carbon pricing and other climate alarmist policies. If you thought the carbon tax was bad under Trudeau, buckle up for carbon tax Carney.

There is also a harmony in their worldview and governing philosophy. Both men are globalists and elitists through and through—Carney has self-described as such. Both have long-standing ties to such groups as the World Economic Forum. At a time when democracies around the world are rejecting the preachy “progressivism” of globalist governments, Carney has also promoted a Canadian digital currency, which I am adamantly against. Carney is not the man for a Canada that desperately needs to take charge of its own destiny and chart its own course.

If he weren’t the current favourite of the liberal legacy media, Carney’s myriad of conflicts of interest would also be a major concern.

At the same time, he was preaching the need to shut down Canada’s energy sector, and Carney’s company was investing billions in pipelines in South America and the Middle East—a Trudeau level of hypocrisy.

Recently, Carney told a crowd in Kelowna that he would use emergency federal power to force provinces to accept large projects. He then contradicted himself in French to a crowd in Quebec, telling them he would not force projects on unwilling provinces.

When he was named Trudeau’s special economic advisor—a role that was set up specifically to shield him from needing to provide a conflict of interest disclosure—his company Brookfield Management immediately petitioned the Liberal Government for a $10 billion investment.

Brookfield also stood to gain financially from the government’s heat pump plan.

Carney’s position on numerous international boards is also a cause for concern. As is his refusal to provide an ethics disclosure prior to running for prime minister in an election. Even if elected, Carney would have four months to cover his tracks before such a disclosure were required by parliament, and if we’ve learned anything from Trudeau, a lot of damage can occur very quickly—especially when a prime minister rejects transparency and accountability.

Sadly, just like Trudeau, he is getting free pass from the press who, like the liberal government they prop up, will do anything to keep from being held accountable for their lies by a Poilievre government.

Canada’s Conservatives have been clear. We need a plan and a PM who will put Canada and Canadians first.

A leader who is (and has been) consistent and upfront with the people of Canada.

A leader who has spent their career doing the hard thing to serve others rather than just serving themselves.

Mark Carney may look good on paper and good to the press, but Canadians know the plan, and Carney’s not that man.