British business journalist Matthew Lynn pulls no punches in his critique of Canada’s new prime minister.

By Matthew Lynn | The Guardian

Summary

Longtime British financial journalist Matthew Lynn takes aim at Canada’s new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, in this commentary published by the U.K.’s The Guardian this week. [See: Canada Is About to Discover Mark Carney Is the Man With the Reverse Midas Touch].

Mark Carney is a familiar figure in the U.K. due to his tenure at the Bank of England as governor from 2013 to 2020. Lynn notes Carney’s “impressive resume” included roles as a Goldman Sachs banker and Governor of the Bank of Canada before becoming the first foreigner to head the Bank of England. Carney also led the Net Zero Banking Alliance, served as a UN Climate Change Envoy, and, in recent years, chaired investment fund Brookfield Asset Management and media company Bloomberg LP.

Carney’s time at the Bank of England was less illustrious, claims Lynn, who recalls Carney was nicknamed “the unreliable boyfriend” for his frequent changes in interest rate policy. Writes Lynn:

“He printed too much money in the wake of the financial crisis, and then repeated the mistake all over again in the wake of the referendum on leaving the EU, responding as if he was in the middle of a financial emergency instead of dealing with a minor blip in trading relations. At the same time, regulatory standards were allowed to slide, and the City started to lose its role as one of the major global financial centres, with over-complex rules deterring companies from listing their shares in London. By the time he left office, Carney had created a mess which his successors have struggled to clear up. Inflation spiked up to a peak of 11.1 per cent in the UK, compared to 5.2 per cent in France, or 8 per cent in Italy, hardly a country known for controlling prices effectively, largely because the Bank had printed too much money.”

Carney also politicized his Bank of England role, says Lynn, by taking sides in the Brexit debate and endorsing Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, whose subsequent performance has led to speculation she could be ousted.

“Time and again, Carney has proved himself a man of high intelligence, but remarkably poor judgement,” concludes Lynn.

Since leaving the Bank, Carney’s Climate Alliance has faced setbacks, with major banks withdrawing their support.

Canada, facing economic challenges and a bitter dispute with the U.S., needs visionary leadership, Lynn observes. Instead, he says, it will get Carney, a self-regarding technocrat with an abundance of connections and a history of leaving wreckage in his wake.

Read the text in full at the publisher’s website here.