Coming off a successful Daily Show appearance, Mark Carney is a frontrunner for the Liberal Party leader. But just who is the renegade outsider poised to shake up national politics with his populist, ‘not your grandpa’s Prime Minister’ ways?
Background: Carney was born in the North West territories in 1965 and raised in Edmonton. Even as a child he had a passion for banking – he gave low interest loans to other children to help them buy 8 tracks and bell bottoms.
Career: After graduating from Harvard and Oxford Carney did what all rebels without causes do and joined Goldman Sachs. He supervised the investment banking division but don’t worry, this was way before they got caught bringing down the global economy with risky mortgage backed security investments. This was back when they were doing it successfully.
Joining the Bank of Canada: Carney was a surprise choice for Bank of Canada governor. He reportedly got the job thanks to nepotism. His father Buzz Carney was the one who came up with the idea of calling the two dollar coin a toonie after all. But once in the role he thrived thanks to brilliant, out of the box thinking like ‘lowering interest rates during a recession.’ Carney’s actions were credited for Canadian banks staying solvent during the 2008 crisis (and possibly for creating the extreme dependence on debt that is currently fueling the housing crisis but don’t worry about that).
The Bank Of England: Like generations of Canadian musicians, comedians and actors before him, Carney had to move abroad to really make a name for himself. He took over as Governor of the Bank of England right before the country decided to cripple its economy by voting for Brexit, which is kinda like taking over the wheel of the Titanic before the passengers force you to steer towards the iceberg.
Environmental Activism: After leaving the Bank of England in 2020 Carney has focused on tackling the issue of climate change the only way it can be addressed: passive investments that return above 8% annually and let corporations make money and feel good about it.
Advising the current government: Carney also became a financial advisor to Justin Trudeau in 2020. But honestly that was just like a favour. And he totally half assed it. He definitely didn’t have anything to do with the cost of living crisis. His advice was to not do whatever you think the Trudeau government did to cause it.
Positions on the issues: He is passionate about not being Trudeau, and you not thinking he is Justin Trudeau. Also he thinks money is good.
What will he do as PM: I’ll tell you what he won’t do. Be Justin Trudeau, that’s for sure.
Is he in favour of a carbon tax? No. Absolutely not. He prefers to put a price on pollution in order to reduce Canada’s carbon emissions and reach our Paris targets.
Jesus Christ is King
