On Dec. 30, I got word that Mark Carney, a fellow who had occupied an uncertain role in momentous events for the past few weeks, had published a year-end op-ed over in the inferior national newspaper. I started hearing about Carney’s piece right away from wiseacre friends, ones who probably don’t realize how any writer shudders a little at such catcalling. (“What are they saying about me out of earshot?”) One of them called it a “perfect, featureless cube of unmeaning,” and another compared it to an “odourless, impenetrable vapour cloud.” I actually ended up setting aside Carney’s op-ed, saving it for a couple of days as a little treat.
Once I got around to the thing, I did get a little chuckle out of how he started off with a laborious explanation of the exotic concept of a “New Year’s resolution.” But, really, I was left wondering what the hell the author was trying to accomplish. Had he asked the Globe and Mail to set aside the space at some point thinking he might use it to introduce the Dominion to its new finance minister and saviour?
Carney’s name is known to have come up in the Trudeau-Freeland drama that has set the Liberal party ablaze: a parade of anonymous Globe sources have suggested that he accepted a conditional offer to join the federal cabinet and then declined when the conditions weren’t met. (Item one: “don’t flagrantly abuse and humiliate my friend Chrystia Freeland.”) One might have thought he would take the chance to explain exactly what happened from his point of view. I’m happy to facilitate an entry into the pages of the Post if Carney wishes to set the historical record straight.
But even with all of that ruled out, one might have thought, well, he has attached himself pretty publicly to the Liberal party cause. Maybe he’ll just do his loyal level best to give us all a reason to rally behind the SOBs. Or maybe, if he has the ambitions often attributed to him (note: “central banker for two different countries” isn’t on the resume of any unambitious person), he would just like to set out a short list of specific, actionable policy priorities for the government. Alas, he has a pathological problem with specifics.
One might even have expected him to consider criticizing the government in a friendly way. There are a lot of Liberal cult adherents left, and they’re now very willing to tell friendly reporters that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a brand-risk problem. Few, however, demonstrate the gumption to actually analyze the last 10 years of this federal government or to challenge any of its actions, even the stupid or blazingly unconstitutional ones. They’ve skipped ahead to screeching about a future prime minister. There is an argument to be made that Trudeau could easily have lasted another 10 years, but was really undone by the sophomoric activist-politician timber he was obligated to make cabinets out of. I am not hearing anyone make it, and Carney certainly doesn’t.
What we do get from Carney is that Canadians should stand up for Canada. And “service” is good. And we should embrace change, but we should be careful to embrace good changes, not bad changes. And it would be nice if some Canadian team or other won the Stanley Cup for a change. (The dude’s so averse to specifics he can’t even write the word “Oilers.”)
The funny thing is, it smells at certain points in the op-ed as if he is trying to criticize the Trudeau government. He has a paragraph about the importance of encouraging and unleashing “builders … because now is a time to build.” (When it is not?) This carries an enticing whiff of the trendy techno-utopianism of the moment, but if he has thoughts about who or what has been making things so gosh-darned impossible to build, he doesn’t share them. This is just Carney being Carney: turning timely ideas into puffs of fog is his modus operandi.
He goes on to urge enforcing “real rules on government spending,” carefully not mentioning any political careers that might have just been slaughtered in an attempt to enforce such rules. But, remember, “we can’t slash our way to prosperity.” (Somewhere off-camera, Javier Milei revs a chainsaw …)
National Post