Michael Higgins: Mark Carney and the truth don't get along

Re-printed without permission. It must be saved

The Liberal leadership frontrunner seems to think that politics is the art of the inexactitude

Michael Higgins

Published Mar 05, 2025  •  Last updated 2 days ago  •  4 minute read

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/michael-higgins-mark-carney-and-the-truth-dont-get-along

For a Harvard and Oxford University graduate, Mark Carney has done some head-shakingly dumb things lately.

The lust for power may have scrambled his brain, or it could be that as he morphs into a Liberal politician he has adopted some of the worst tropes associated with those who seek elected office: a casual relationship with the truth, embellishing achievements and a reliance on non-existent facts.

To have done what Carney has done — risen to governor of the central banks of both Canada and England — he must have been seen as a man of principle and integrity. And yet as he battles to become the leader of the Liberals, and thus prime minister, Carney is treading a less virtuous route.

Carney is fast becoming to honesty what Donald Trump is to diplomacy.

One of Carney’s dumbest decisions — so far — was after the Liberal leadership English-language debate when he was asked about his role in investment company Brookfield Asset Management’s decision to move its head office from Toronto to New York.

Carney, as chairman of Brookfield’s board, knew about that move before it happened and played a part in the decision-making process. In a Dec. 1 letter circulated by Conservatives, Carney approved the move. The Financial Post reported on the move a full two months before Carney stepped down as chair.

But telling the unvarnished truth was too much for Carney in that press scrum.

“I ceased to be chair on the 15th of January. The formal decision happened after I ceased to be on the board,” said Carney, adopting — not for the first time — the “nothing to do with me” defence.

When the paper trail was highlighted, Carney changed his tune.

“I should have been more precise in my answer,” Carney told the Globe & Mail, adding that it was only a “technical change.” “No difference to any employment,” he said.

But none of that alleged justification for the move excuses his disingenuous answer. Worryingly, Carney’s first instinct was to save himself embarrassment and so he chose being economical with the truth over being forthright with the answer.

Last week, during an appearance in Barrie, Ont., he repeatedly claimed Canada was the biggest supplier of semiconductors to the United States.

“Everyone in the White House is a tech bro, except Trump, they all need semiconductors,” he said, adding for emphasis “They. All. Come. From. Canada.”

But they don’t. Not even close. Canada isn’t even in the top 10 list of countries that export semiconductors to the U.S.

Carney, the economic guru, was getting some basic economic facts very wrong.

An explanation about his inaccurate statements was eventually provided to the Toronto Sun by his team.

“His remarks underscored the need for Canada to leverage its strengths in critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and R&D (research and development) to further bolster North American semiconductor security and competitiveness,” the Carney team told the Sun.

Take a big whiff everyone because that’s BS right there. His remarks didn’t underscore anything and it’s nonsense to suggest otherwise.

Carney made a fundamental, sloppy mistake. Fine, it must have been embarrassing, but it happens. Own up and move on.

Except he couldn’t do that. Instead, he approved a specious explanation to cover up a factual error. It’s the attempted cover-up that is so galling.

For a second time within days, Carney was unable to explain in any satisfactory way why he had badly misled the pubic. Hiding from the press and public while your team issues nonsensical rationales is no way to behave by a man seeking to become prime minister.

Meanwhile, Carney is keen to attract kudos when he thinks he can. “I’ve helped save two economies,” he has dubiously claimed of his time at the banks of Canada and England.

But he makes sure to distance himself when things go wrong. He may have been a financial advisor to the Trudeau government for five years but the economic mess we find ourselves in now? Nothing to do with me, he says. He didn’t have time to advise the government, he told CBC’s Rosemary Barton.

Article content

Suddenly, like Macavity the Mystery Cat, Carney’s not there.

However, Carney reappears if there’s a whiff of credit to be gained. “It was my privilege to work with Paul Martin when he balanced the books — and kept the books balanced,” Carney said during the English-language debate.

As others have pointed out, Carney was appointed senior associate deputy minister of finance in 2004, almost a full decade after Martin began the process of balancing the books.

Carney’s claim was too much for former prime minister Stephen Harper. “I have listened, with increasing disbelief, to Mark Carney’s attempts to take credit for things he had little or nothing to do with back then,” said Harper.

Carney seems to think that politics is the art of the inexactitude, hoping to get away with something that is not patently false while appearing plausibly true. To engage in such machinations now in the pursuit of power does not bode well for the future if Carney achieves it.

There is a reason the Trudeau Liberals have faced so many ethical violations, it’s because they believe the rules don’t apply to them. It’s a particularly odious Liberal disease and seems to have infected Carney.

National Post

Recommended from Editorial