Mark Carney says Conservative Party doesn’t understand the economy

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Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney has taken aim at the Conservatives while laying out his priorities on how to secure future growth and productivity for the economy.

“One of the things that has drawn me more into politics right now is we have an opposition who is leading in the polls (and) who doesn’t understand the economy,” Carney said during an episode of Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith’s Uncommons podcast on Oct. 18. “Doesn’t understand where the world is going; doesn’t understand what is necessary to build this economy for Canadians; who think it’s a series of simplistic slogans; there’s nothing behind those slogans.”

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Carney, who currently serves as United Nations Special Envoy on climate and finance as well as chair of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., was appointed by the Liberal Party of Canada last month to lead an economic task force and provide advice to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Carney’s political aspirations have been the source of speculation for years. He first got involved in partisan politics back in 2021, when he delivered a virtual speech to the Liberal’s convention. While he provided no timeline on when he might run for political office, in conversation with Erskine-Smith, he did take aim at Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

“I’m not casting aspersions on people who are lifelong politicians,” he said. “For example, someone like Pierre Poilievre, who has been a lifelong politician, talks about the market in a way and the economy in a way that portrays a very limited understanding about how the economy actually works.”

The Conservatives fired back, with deputy leader Melissa Lantsman saying Carney is “desperately trying to distract from the carbon tax and other disastrous Liberal policies he supports that are crushing Canadians.

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“When Carbon Tax Carney isn’t advising Trudeau to quadruple the carbon tax and make life more expensive for Canadians, he has used his insider access to promote policies that benefit himself and line his pockets like in the case of his Heat Pump Hustle or his investment firm’s pitch to get 10 billion in taxpayer dollars from Trudeau for a pension fund,” she said in a statement.

Carney has been the subject of Conservative criticism for some time now, with members calling him an “out of touch elite.”

Earlier this month, Conservative MP Michael Barrett asked the federal lobbying commissioner to review whether Carney’s position as both chair of Brookfield and an adviser to the Liberals violates any lobbying rules. Brookfield has reportedly pitched a potential new multibillion-dollar investment fund that would take capital from Canadian pension funds and the federal government.

During the podcast, Carney pointed to some of the priorities he is focused on as an adviser, such as closing the productivity gap between Canada and the United States by attracting more business investment.

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“When you look outside of the resources sector, we just don’t invest in our workers,” he said. “Part of it, fundamentally, is about underinvestment. Why is that the case, and how can we change it?”

Another area Carney is looking at is tax policy and regulations, although he did not provide much detail on what regulatory or tax changes he would advise the liberals to implement.

“This is part of the challenge, which is there is not one magical change to the tax system or one regulation you adjust that is going to instantly right this, or close the gap; you have to look at a series of options in order to get there,” he said. “But that is going to be a core focus.”

Carney, a big proponent for a carbon-free economy, said Canada should prioritize carbon industries it can do well in and dominate. He also said there’s a need to have a path forward for implementing artificial intelligence.

“We are entering two industrial revolutions at the same time: the sustainable revolution and the AI revolution,” he said.

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Carney also said the political process often lags in providing social and retraining support for workers during periods of economic disruption.

“I think we should benefit from that knowledge, that history, and do this in real time,” he said. “A huge part of this is going to have to be around the skills agenda, the skills agenda in real time, and make these changes not threatening for people, but legitimately exciting for people.”

• Email: jgowling@postmedia.com

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