Who Is Mark Carney?

Kenny Murray

The newly coronated Prime Minister of Canada is certainly making waves, not only in Canada, but internationally, as many are asking the question: "Who is Mark Carney?"

This question is not unique to Prime Minister Carney. Every new political party leader must devote a lot of money, time and energy into answering that question as quickly and effectively as possible. Here, however, we have in interesting case. All we've really been told about Mark Carney is that he is a successful economist that will lead Canada out of economic uncertainty. We were told very little about his assets, potential influences, political alliances and economic history. In fact, Carney was asked about his assets on March 13 and his response was that he doesn't know what he has in assets because he put them into a blind trust in recent weeks/months. Not a good start for Carney as people don't just forget their assets as soon as management control gets passed on to another person. So, what is Mark Carney's history?

The Prime Minister's claim to fame is not so much his business savvy, but his role in international banking. Carney was the governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 - 2013, and then the governor of the Bank of England from 2013 - 2020 (the first non-British individual to do so). You may be asking, what does the governor of these banks do? Well they manage the team responsible of meeting the monetary goals of the bank. So for example, if the bank has a goal of a 2% inflation rate, it is the role of the governor to set policy and manage the team responsible for hitting that goal. Due to his role in international banking, Carney has become a member of World Economic Forum, and the Chair of the Group of Thirty. Carney certainly has acquired a lot of wealth due to his position in the WEF, Group of Thirty, and other international banking and economic groups, so while he is involved in the business world, his niche is more the economic/banking world.

While we don't know what's in store for Canada under the leadership of Prime Minster Carney, what we do know is that a WEF, international banker, with the full support of the media, in a time of financial insecurity will be a difficult challenge for Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party.