There was a Big Winner and a Big Loser in the News Yesterday – so says the National Post on its front page today.
The only problem with their story today is that it Mixed the Two Up.
As the Post sees it – the Winner is the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney and the Loser is Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford.
I would argue the reverse – a decline for Carney and a rise for Ford.
Let’s look at Mayor Ford first:
Yesterday, an Ontario Court Judge ruled that Ford had breeched conflict of interest laws and therefore ordered his removal from office.
Ford had been actively involved with a $3k grant to support his football team for disadvantaged teens. Imagine – he gets judicially censured for trying to help the disadvantaged while other politicians, who will remain nameless, get off scot free for wasting (funnelling?) billions.
But that aside, the Judge was correct in his ruling – Ford should have refrained from actively taking part in Council’s decision – regardless of how noble the cause.
Indeed, that said, it is refreshing to see a Judge impose the law as it exists rather than inventing it from the ether. It would be interesting though to speculate whether the Judge would have been so conservative in his ruling had the alleged offender been of the Liberal or NDP persuasion.
So Ford caused his own downfall and the Court refused to bail him out.
But by so doing, the Court has made Ford a Hero. Here was a guy who, up until now, had virtually botched the job of being Mayor and – all of a sudden – he is the recipient of our sympathies and best wishes.
The Guy has come out of all of this a Winner.
Okay, now Carney:
If you believe the press clippings, Carney is the best thing since the invention of sliced bread. He and he alone saved Canada’s Banking System during his time in office.
I beg to differ.
There are really three saviours here (and none are named Carney); Paul Martin, David Dodge and Jean Chretien – as much as I would like to think otherwise.
When those three took over the helm of Canada’s finances in 1993 – they inherited a whopping $40+ billion dollar deficit and an out of control debt - from Mulroney and his fellow Conservatives.
Martin did the policy work, Dodge did the implementation and Chretien, to his credit, allowed it to happen.
Martin even stood firm against our Banks demands that they be allowed to merge with one another. Thank heavens they did not or they most likely would have been up to their respective ears in the fallout experienced south of the border. As luck would have it – only one of our Banks – the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce got in over its head by investing in these caustic instruments. Even I, at the time, thought that the merger request made sense. I know better now.
Thank you Paul Martin.
But the point in all of this is that Carney was not the key player in this – he was though most fortunate to inherit good books as a result of the three above-noteds.
Carney was appointed by one Stephen Harper -
Conservative. The same PM and Team which saw our deficit climb to heights not even contemplated by their fellow Tory – Brian Mulroney.
In recent years, we have looked good in comparison to the rest for the simple fact that the other western nations did worse than we did during and post the American financial meltdown beginning in 2008. And we were able to do so – because of the successive Liberal Governments from 1993 to 2005.
So is Carney a dud? Who knows since, from my perspective, he succeeded on the sterling efforts of those who came before him.
Will he succeed as Governor of the Bank of England? Again – who knows, but if I was a betting man – and I am – I would not bet the farm on his doing so.
As I see it …
‘K.D. Galagher’
