Liberal management candidate and former Financial institution of Canada governor Mark Carney stated on Sunday that former prime minister Stephen Harper requested him to hitch his cupboard as finance minister in 2012.
Carney, who sat down for an interview on Rosemary Barton Stay, was responding to a query about why he was coming into the political fray now, after his identify has been tossed round in Liberal circles for years.
“I have been offered positions in the past,” Carney informed host Rosemary Barton. “For example, Prime Minister Harper asked me if I would be his finance minister in 2012.”
The previous central banker then stated it “wasn’t appropriate” for him to proceed with the supply as a result of he didn’t really feel it might be proper to “go directly from being governor into elective politics.”
Carney labored as Financial institution of Canada governor from February 2008 to June 2013. In that point, he served below former Conservative finance minister Jim Flaherty — who was in Harper’s cupboard when this purported job supply occurred.
Chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with Liberal management candidate Mark Carney in his first Canadian interview to debate his imaginative and prescient for Canada if elected.
The previous central banker’s feedback on Sunday are the primary time he’s spoken publicly a couple of job supply from former prime minister Harper.
Harper’s former director of communications Dimitri Soudas stated in an announcement to CBC Information that “Mark Carney is not telling the whole story, and prime minister Harper certainly does not support Mr. Carney in any way.”
CBC Information has reached out to Harper for remark by way of his consulting agency, Harper & Associates.
Carney’s feedback come on the heels of back-and-forth exchanges on social media between Liberals and Conservatives over how a lot credit score Carney ought to get for efficiently steering Canada’s response to the 2008 international finance disaster.
On Wednesday, Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre’s spouse, Anaida Poilievre, criticized Carney on social media and claimed the previous central banker was “claiming the legacy of a man who has since passed” — referring to Flaherty, who died in 2014.
“I worked under the Harper government and saw firsthand the exceptional leadership of Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Harper in steering Canada through one of the most challenging economic periods in our history,” Poilievre stated. “What’s happening right now is not just misleading — it’s appalling.”
Chisholm Pothier, who labored as Flaherty’s deputy chief of workers and director of communications, got here to Carney’s defence in his personal publish on social media.
“Oh please. I was there and Carney played a big role,” Pothier stated. “Flaherty and Harper provided the political leadership that was key, but Carney was on deck with insight and smart monetary policy.”
“Trying to erase that for partisan reasons is, well, beyond disgraceful, to match your hyperbole,” Pothier posted in response to Anaida Poilievre.
Oh please. I used to be there and Carney performed an enormous position. Flaherty and Harper supplied the political management that was key, however Carney was on deck with perception and sensible financial coverage.
Attempting to erase that for partisan causes is, properly, past disgraceful, to match your hyperbole https://t.co/yKHrZKFUVk
In mid-January, Liberal MP Maninder Sidhu printed a video on social media touting Carney’s work throughout the 2008 disaster. The video featured a clip of Flaherty saying, “Mark has been a superb governor at the Bank of Canada for more than five years.”
Two days after Sidhu posted the video, Soudas responded and stated two folks led Canada by way of the 2008 monetary disaster — Flaherty and Harper — and added that “bureaucrats didn’t lead the response; they followed direction by the elected government.”
Carney and the Liberals
Going way back to 2012, the Liberal Celebration has tried to carry Carney into the political fold — they even made an try to steer him to stop his job as Financial institution of Canada governor to run within the management race that in the end topped Justin Trudeau.
On the time, social media websites selling a “draft Carney” motion popped up on Fb and Twitter, although Carney by no means ended up making a management run.
Financial institution of Canada governor Mark Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty focus on Carney’s appointment to the Financial institution of England.
Carney’s feedback on Sunday that it felt inappropriate to go from his central financial institution posting to politics will also be traced again to 2012, however within the context of weighing a Liberal management run, based on a report from the Globe and Mail.
Ultimately, Carney went on to grow to be governor of the Financial institution of England. On the press convention the place it was introduced he would tackle the position, Carney laughed off the thought he would depart the Financial institution of Canada to hunt the Liberal management.
