In this file photo, then-Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney looks on as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper opens a meeting with international business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 26, 2012.
Liberal leadership frontrunner Mark Carney is hitting back at former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper for accusing the Liberal leadership frontrunner of taking undue economic credit.
Responding to a letter Harper penned to Conservative party members – and sent out as a fundraising blast – Carney’s campaign accused Harper of being called on “to save Pierre Poilievre from a historic drop in support.”
“But no amount of revisionist history can take away from Mr. Carney’s proven record of economic leadership,” his campaign said in a statement.
Carney’s team also doubled down on the assertion that Harper approached him to serve as finance minister, in noting that the former prime minister could have picked Poilievre, but didn’t.
The statement also included a handful of references to comments made by prominent Conservatives, including Harper, of the job Carney did as Canada’s central banker.
“Canadians know that Pierre Poilievre and his team bring no experience or plan to protect our economy, and no ability to stand up to Donald Trump in a national crisis. Mr. Carney is ready to lead Canada and to build the strongest economy in the G7,” Carney’s campaign said.
Harper says Carney taking credit for Flaherty ‘hard calls’
Harper – who appointed Carney to run the Bank of Canada back in 2008 – spoke out Monday, blasting the former central banker for overstating his role in steering the country through the global financial crisis.
In a fundraising letter sent to Conservatives, Harper questioned Carney’s economic record, in the context of the massive economic danger Canada is facing in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s impending tariffs.
“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,” Harper writes.
“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.”
Harper went on to say Carney’s experience as a Liberal economic advisor is tied to the carbon tax and sizeable deficits, calling the leadership contender “wrong on all the big issues.”
“The real reason Carney wants to claim our Conservative record for himself is that he dare not speak of his actual ‘experience,’” Harper said.
Former Flaherty staffer weighs in
One former Flaherty staffer, speaking to CTV News on Monday, said while he agrees his former boss led the political and fiscal decisions such as running a $55 billion deficit, Carney’s role on the monetary side shouldn’t be minimized.
“Behind the scenes and intangible is that Carney and Flaherty were close. They liked each other. They talked a lot, and they worked well together,” said Chisholm Pothier.
Pothier – who worked on a rival candidates’ leadership campaign during the race that elected Poilievre and is no longer a federal Conservative member – described Carney as “a sounding board” for the then-finance minister.
“Up until Carney entered the political scene in Canada, it was generally a given that Harper, Flaherty, and Carney got us through the crisis and helped and set us on the path to recovery,” he said, noting their working relationship predated the global financial crisis, to when Carney was a senior bureaucrat at the finance department.
Liberals closing polling gap
Both Carney and Harper have called the coming federal election the most consequential vote of their lifetimes.
Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned and the race to replace him kicked off, the Liberals have seen a sizeable uptick in support, considerably narrowing the Conservatives’ lead.
For months, Poilievre’s Conservatives had been enjoying around a 20-point polling advantage but as of last week, CTV News’ pollster Nik Nanos said that if an election was called, it would be “a coin toss,” with the Conservatives sitting at 37 per cent support, and the Liberals at 33 per cent.
Nanos said at the time that the numbers indicate some Canadians are questioning why Consevatives are focusing their attacks on Carney, rather than spending more time talking about Trump and tariffs.
“It’s not going to be a change election anymore. It’s actually going to be who can best manage Donald Trump, and who do Canadians trust to move forward in some sort of positive way in the relationship with the United States. So, I think change is out the door as the ballot question,” Nanos said.
“We may find that Canadians don’t vote for a party that they like. They don’t vote for potentially a leader that they like, but that Canadians as voters become very mercenary, looking at the choices that are before them.”
Liberals will elect their next leader on Sunday. While some voters have run into issues with the party’s verification processes, party spokesperson Parker Lund said the system is working as it should to ensure a secure vote, and that there’s a team working to troubleshoot more complex cases.
Voting opened last week. So far, of the 400,000 registered Liberals eligible to cast a ballot, 100,000 people have been verified, and of those 78,000 have cast a ballot so far.
"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. 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."Rt. Hon. Stephen J. Harper
Read the Full Letter Below:
A federal election is fast approaching– and it will be the most consequential of our lifetime.
We are currently facing the prospect of completely unjustified tariffs from the United States, which threaten our livelihoods and our independence.
We face these threats at a time when Canada should be the wealthiest and most self-reliant economy in the world. We have the resources, the talent, and the opportunity to lead. Yet under the Liberals, we have fallen behind, way behind.
We have the third largest oil reserves in the world, yet we import 179 million barrels of foreign oil every year because the Liberals shut down our wealth-generating pipelines – while leaving us reliant on the United States.
We are the 5th largest supplier of natural gas, but we still can’t export LNG because the Liberals claim there is 'no business case.'
We have more farmland per capita than almost any country, yet food prices have risen 37% faster than in the U.S. because of the Liberals’ carbon tax on farmers and truckers.
Instead of tapping into our potential, the Liberals under Justin Trudeau, with the advice of Mark Carney, have doubled the debt, doubled housing costs, and doubled food bank lineups. They’ve blocked Canadian energy while making us reliant on foreign oil, raised taxes on hard-working Canadians, and driven half a trillion dollars in investment out of our country.
And now, Mark Carney wants us to believe that his “experience” is the solution. But what is that ‘experience’?
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. 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.
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. 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.
So, the choice is indeed about ‘experience’ – Mark Carney’s experience in being wrong on all the big issues – versus Pierre Poilievre’s experience in being right on those same things. That’s why Pierre Poilievre, not Mark Carney, needs to be Canada’s prime minister.
Make no mistake, Mark Carney is just like Justin. He has the same high tax high spend agenda; he was and is the biggest supporter of the carbon tax; and if Mark Carney’s Liberal elitists win the election, regular Canadians will lose once again.
Pierre Poilievre helped my government cut taxes and cut down on crime. Pierre supported Canadian energy. And he was the first parliamentarian to raise the alarm that the Trudeau government’s spending would cause inflation.
Pierre Poilievre has a plan to reverse this decline and put Canada First—but he needs your help.
Once the election is called, spending restrictions will kick in. Every dollar donated now will go further—helping Pierre spread his common-sense message around the mainstream media and across the country. With your help, Pierre can take on the Liberals and their media allies.
Former prime minister Harper accuses Carney of overblowing role during financial crisis
Then-prime minister Stephen Harper, then-finance minister Jim Flaherty and then-Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney are seen at a 2009 First Ministers meeting in Ottawa. (The Canadian Press)
Former prime minister Stephen Harper is accusing Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney of taking too much credit for helping guide Canada's response to the 2008 global financial crisis, an assertion the former central banker's campaign says shows the Conservatives are worried about the upcoming election.
Carney's history leading the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013, before moving on to the Bank of England, has been the backbone of his bid to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as he pitches himself as someone who would bring a steady hand to the economy.
With less than a week before Liberals choose their next leader, Harper — the Conservative prime minister at the time of the global crisis — is taking shots at Carney's economic expertise.
In a fundraising letter, Harper wrote that Carney — widely seen as the front-runner in the race — was not involved in the "day-to-day management" of Canada's economy during the global recession and is undermining former finance minister Jim Flaherty's legacy. Flaherty died in 2014.
"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," Harper said.
The letter does not cite any specific "attempts to take credit" by Carney. His Liberal leadership campaign website states that during the 2008 financial crisis, the former central banker "guided Canada through one of the most turbulent economic periods in modern history, protecting jobs and helping ensure that Canada came out stronger."
"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," Harper wrote.
"But let me be very clear: the hard calls during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis were made by Jim."
Harper goes on to attack Carney, the man Flaherty approved to run Canada's central bank, for being "wrong on all the big issues" like carbon pricing and immigration and while praising Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for "being right on those same things."
Carney's campaign says he has a proven track record that Poilievre is "afraid to run against" in the next federal election, which could quickly follow the Liberal leadership campaign.
For more than a year, Poilievre's Conservatives had been enjoying around a 20-point polling lead, but recent surveys suggest that gap is closing.
"Canadians can believe 2012's Stephen Harper, who publicly praised Mr. Carney and worked to recruit him as finance minister, or 2025's Stephen Harper, who reversed himself after recently watching his party's historic drop in support," said the Carney campaign in a statement.
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Harper previously praised Carney
The 22nd prime minister's letter comes weeks after Carney revealed Harper asked him to join his cabinet as finance minister in 2012.
In a February interview on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live, Carney was asked why he was entering the political fray now, after his name has been tossed around in Liberal circles for years.
"I have been offered positions in the past," Carney told Barton. "For example, prime minister Harper asked me if I would be his finance minister in 2012."
At the time of the interview, Harper's former director of communications Dimitri Soudas said, "Carney is not telling the whole story, and prime minister Harper certainly does not support Mr. Carney in any way."
Harper's letter, shared with media Monday, does not deny he offered him the position.
WATCH | At Issue: Did the Liberal debates change anything?
At Issue | Did the Liberal debates change anything?
13 days ago
Duration22:16
At Issue this week: Liberal leadership contenders square off in two debates, and questions emerge about frontrunner Mark Carney’s conflicts of interest. The U.S. tariff deadline comes back around. And, Jagmeet Singh wants Donald Trump banned from the G7 meeting in Alberta.
The tone of Harper's letter is starkly different from some of his previous public comments about Carney.
When Carney left to lead the Bank of England, Harper congratulated him for being a "valued partner as the government has worked to steer Canada away from the worst impacts of the global economic recession."
The former prime minister's comments are just the latest round of back and forth over how much credit Carney should get for steering Canada's response to the 2008 global financial crisis.
Last month, Poilievre's wife, Anaida, criticized Carney on social media and claimed the former central banker was "claiming the legacy of a man who has since passed."
"What's happening right now is not just misleading — it's appalling," she wrote.
Chisholm Pothier, who worked for years as a senior official with Flaherty's team, came to Carney's defence in his own post on social media.
"Oh please. I was there and Carney played a big role," Pothier said. "Flaherty and Harper provided the political leadership that was key, but Carney was on deck with insight and smart monetary policy."
Carney has publicly praised Flaherty, calling him a "mentor" and a "lovely human being."
"I respected him enormously," said Carney in an interview after Flaherty's death. "I'm very grateful for everything he did for me, and I owe him a great debt."
The Liberal Party meets in Ottawa Sunday to choose its new leader. Carney's rivals for the top job include former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, former government House leader Karina Gould and ex-Liberal MP and Quebec businessman Frank Baylis.
Catharine Tunney is a reporter with CBC's Parliament Hill bureau, where she covers national security and the RCMP. She worked previously for CBC in Nova Scotia. You can reach her at catharine.tunney@cbc.ca
Then-prime minister Stephen Harper, then-finance minister Jim Flaherty and then-Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney are seen at a 2009 First Ministers meeting in Ottawa. (The Canadian Press)
