Mark Carney said he is thinking about running for elected office in Canada, but remained guarded about when or where, in a conversation with Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith.
The conversation was the clearest signal yet from the former governor of the Bank of Canada that he is eyeing a more political future, and comes weeks after he was tapped to chair an economic advisory task force for the Liberal Party and the prime minister.
Carney joined Erskine-Smith on his podcast in an episode published on Friday.
The MP for Beaches—East York, who has already announced he will not run in the next federal election, talked about the difference between “giving advice and being a decision maker” before asking Carney, “Are you going to put your name on a ballot at some point?”
“I’m taking steps that support that,” Carney replied.
Erskine-Smith asked him later in the conversation whether he would take on a role as a backbench MP before rising to a more prominent role in the party.
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“You can’t map these things out. Of course, there’s value in that,” Carney said in response.
Carney went on to list reasons why he supports the Liberal Party, arguing the incumbent government holds “the right combination of a social conscience and social priorities” while still prioritizing a strong economy.
He also criticized Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives, who have attacked Carney in the House of Commons and in statements to the media, labelling him “Carbon Tax Carney” and accusing him of seeking Liberal leadership.
Carney, who also previously led the Bank of England and chairs Brookfield Asset Management, claimed Poilievre has a “very limited understanding of how the economy actually works.”
Carney said he wasn’t going to “run away” from the assertions that he understands “how things work,” and wanting to apply that to the benefit of Canada.
“One of the things that has drawn me more into politics right now is that we have an opposition who’s leading in the polls, who doesn’t understand the economy, doesn’t understand where the world’s going, doesn’t understand what’s necessary to build this economy for Canadians, who thinks it’s a series of simplistic slogans,” he said. “There’s nothing behind those slogans.”
Erskine-Smith asked Carney later in the conversation about comparisons to former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who led the party to a catastrophic loss in the federal election against then-prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in 2011.
Carney said he didn’t think politics should be reserved for “lifelong politicians,” adding that while Ignatieff was a “better intellectual” than him, he didn’t share all of the same qualities with the failed former leader.
Carney claimed his experience in business and as the head of central banks required him to keep the pulse of everyday Canadians and how the economy affects them, particularly in downturns.
“I’ve been as close to the political arena as you can,” Carney said.
“I know how to deal with tough issues and not just talk about them, but implement and get things done.”
Carney has also been discussed in political circles as a possible successor to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. For her part, she has said as recently as July that he had the “confidence” she needed from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to continue doing her job.
Carney’s comments come at the same time speculation swirls around Trudeau’s own political future, with the Liberals trailing the Conservatives in the polls and political gridlock ensnaring Parliament.
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