Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper ripped Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney for taking credit for Canada’s economic recovery during the Great Recession.
In an email to Conservative party members, Harper claimed that Carney was not involved in the day-to-day management of the Canadian economy in his job as the former governor of the Bank of Canada.
“Carney’s experience is NOT the day-to-day management of Canada’s economy during the global financial crisis. I have listened, with increasing disbelief, to Mark Carney’s attempts to take credit for things he had little or nothing to do with back then,” said Harper.
Harper was referencing Carney’s attempts on the campaign trail to claim credit for shepherding Canada through the 2008 financial crisis. The Harper government managed to weather the economic downturn relatively well compared to other developed economies, receiving sweeping praise internationally.
Carney, the current Liberal leadership frontrunner, served as the governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013.
Harper said that Carney’s claims seek to strip late Finance Minister Jim Flaherty of the accomplishments he had earned, instead allotting himself undue praise.
“He has been doing this at the expense of the late Jim Flaherty, among the greatest Finance Ministers in Canada’s history, who sadly is not here to defend his record. But let me be very clear: the hard calls during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis were made by Jim,” said Harper.
Harper accused Carney of seeking to claim Conservative policy wins and detract from his failures as an advisor to the Trudeau government, listing out several unpopular Liberal policies.
“Yet the real reason Carney wants to claim our Conservative record for himself is that he dare not speak of his actual ‘experience’ as the Liberals’ principal advisor,” said Harper.
“Carbon taxes. Blocking pipelines. Big deficits. Huge increases in the money supply. The ‘Century Initiative’ on immigration that aimed to rapidly increase Canada’s population to 100M. Carney has advocated for every one of these bad ideas.”
Carney’s campaign team did not respond to True North’s requests for comment
Carney served as a principal economic advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since 2020, helping the government guide their economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
Public opinion polls place Carney at the front of the pack in the race, beating out rivals like former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, former house government leader Karina Gould, and former MP Frank Baylis. The Liberal leadership race is set to conclude on Mar. 9.