UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney attempted to sell himself as an outsider to both politics and the establishment as he teased the likelihood of a Liberal leadership run during a guest appearance on a U.S. talk show.
Carney appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Monday to discuss the political climate in Canada and the U.S. as well the risks of incoming president Donald Trump’s 25% tariff threat.
Stewart said that the headwinds of the population seem to favouring the Conservatives, suggesting that Carney would be better off to “run” from a Canadian election as opposed to entering it.
“It’s really difficult for a candidate to come in,” said Stewart, who has been “saddled with the policies” of a left-wing government.
Before he could finish his sentence, Carney hinted at the notion that it could work if someone entered the race that was bringing something different to the political landscape.
“A wild hypothetical, let’s say a candidate wasn’t part of the government,” said Carney. “Let’s say the candidate did have a lot of economic experience. Let’s say the candidate did deal with crises. Let’s say the candidate had a plan to deal with the challenges in the here and now.”
Stewart playfully responded by saying, “you sneaky…you’re running as an outsider.”
“I am an outsider,” Carney responded.
“Wow, so you’re going to be coming there to say, ‘I have not been in the government. I have worked in the financial markets. I understand all the things that go around trade,’” Stewart responded.
Carney served as the Bank of Canada governor from 2008 to 2013 before taking on the same position with the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.
Carney then became the vice-chairman at Brookfield Asset Management, leading the firm’s environmental, social and governance, or ESG portfolio.
He was named as chair of the new board of directors for Bloomberg L.P. in 2023 by Michael Bloomberg.
More recently, Carney served as a personal adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
and the chair of the Liberal Party of Canada’s task force on economic growth.
Several outlets have reported that Trudeau tried to tap Carney to be his finance minister on several occasions, to no avail.
Carney has come under fire over the past several days after photos from 2013 of him and Ghislaine Maxwell, long time partner of Jeffrey Epstein and convicted sex trafficker of minors resurfaced.
Carney’s campaign denied any involvement with Maxwell outside of being photographed with her, maintaining that she was simply a friend of Carney’s sister-in-law and that the two were not acquaintances beyond attending the same event together.
On the issue of climate change, Carney told Stewart that changes need to be made in a way that “Canadians today are not paying the price.”
Stewart questioned how that would work, noting that any time he’s observed a tax on gas, it wasn’t “politically feasible.”
Carney responded by saying that the “vast majority of our emissions in Canada come from our industry.”
“In fact, almost 30% of our emissions in Canada come from the production and shipment of oil to the United States,” he said. “So part of it is cleaning that up, getting those emissions down, more than changing in a very short period of time the way Canadians live,”
Following his response, Stewart pressed Carney on whether he would officially announce his bid to be the next Liberal leader, citing how many other cabinet ministers have expressed disinterest in the position.
Carney said that ministers like Melanie Joly, Dominic LeBlanc and Steve Mackinnon chose to bow out of the leadership race not out of fear that they couldn’t win the next federal election, but because they’re focused on the Trump tariffs and putting “country before party and personal ambition.”
“But I don’t have a job,” he quipped.
“Really, you don’t have a job presently?” asked Stewart.
“Well I do but it’s UN, dollar-a-day,” joked Carney.