That was my impression as soon as he announced his cabinet. I was open minded to what he might do, but, the more I learn, the more I doubt that he - a realtor, banker, and carbon tax promoter - has the knowledge and experience with Canada to ensure that all Canadians are protected through the trade war.
Canada needs someone with solid understanding of Canada's financial needs, someone who put's all of Canada first. Carney is parachuting into the role, unelected, and unfamiliar with policy in Canada. Staging the signing of a pretend order for theatrical purposes is absurd. What Carney has announced and ensured is that rebate cheques are stopped. That doesn't help Canadians.
Western Canada wants to hear about new pipelines to coasts - new trade partners, and the election date.
I'm going to beg to differ with you and Brian Lilley of the Sun, a co-founder of Rebel Media, which is connected to extreme right wing groups and is modeled after Breitbart in the US. They are climate change denialists and supported anti-vaxxers. They supported the "convoy". And Post Media is owned by right-wing Americans.
Regarding comments criticizing Carney about the Carbon tax, he has already reduced it to zero, which he promised he would do during his leadership campaign. And yet Poilievre is still complaining about the tax. It's zero. Stop complaining. Carney used the only mechanism available to him at the moment and he did it quickly.
Regarding the role of Carney during the 2008 recession, I worked in the institutional investment business at the time. He absolutely did contribute significantly to the strong outcome for Canada. Admittedly Canada had strong banking regulations in place which definitely set a good base, but there were many, many, many businesses and capitalists that were hounding Carney to alter conditions and he stood strong. Harper even wrote a reference letter for Carney to the Bank of England and said that Carney was 'instrumental' to the strong economic results of Canada. But now Harper is saying it wasn't so, but then Harper is supporting his Conservative buddy, rather than the Liberal PM who he had admittedly admired.
Things that I think Carney (in just 5 days as PM) has done well:
- eliminated the carbon tax on individuals (which wasn't even really negative for most citizens) by reducing it to zero
- first international visit was to France (and then Britain), rather than the US
- first domestic trip was to the Canadian arctic, emphasizing his support for our arctic sovereignty, our arctic people and our military.
- told Donald Trump that he would not sit down for discussions with him until he showed some respect for Canada (huzzah!)
- he's talked about making the Canadian economy stronger by having one Canadian economy instead of 13; building the millions of houses that Canadians need; diversifying Canadian trading relationships and opening new trading channels; and, fully realizing on the potential of what Canada is, a super-power in both clean and traditional energy
I think Carney is the right person to take Trump and USA on.
ETA: It's a mischaracterization to call him "just a realtor, banker". He has a degree from Harvard and a doctorate from Oxford. He was the central bank governor for two different countries. He worked in sovereign assets for Goldman Sachs. He was the UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. I'm not sure how someone can say he isn't supremely qualified to deal with the Canadian economy and deal with foreign nations.
