[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Barrister]

I know Mark Carney is a smart guy, and very capable, but he really strikes me as Michael Ignatieff v 2.0 as a federal politician.

I mean you can pretty much just copy and paste the opposition ads from Ignatieff's era.

[viper37]

I know Mark Carney is a smart guy, and very capable, but he really strikes me as Michael Ignatieff v 2.0 as a federal politician.

I mean you can pretty much just copy and paste the opposition ads from Ignatieff's era.

I know the Cons are going to try that, especially with Poilièvre.

But I don't think it's going to stick with Carney, he seems harder to destabilize than Ignatieff was.

It's still the Libs, mind you.

I don't think he'll run right now anyway, he'll wait for Trudeau to get defeated first.

[crazy canuck]

I know Mark Carney is a smart guy, and very capable, but he really strikes me as Michael Ignatieff v 2.0 as a federal politician.

I mean you can pretty much just copy and paste the opposition ads from Ignatieff's era.

That might work for people who don't remember that he was the governor of the bank of Canada.

edit: I did not have time this morning to explain why that fact is important.  The smear campaign against Ignatieff worked because Canadians had no idea who he was (outside of academics in his area of expertise).  Carney is in a very different position.  He was a long serving and well respected personality within Canada and he became a household name during his time  at the bank of Canada.  Not to mention the further exposure he got when he went on to perform that role in England. 

As a result there is no blank slate on which the Conservatives can create their own characterization.  His reputation is already well established.

[Barrister]

I know Mark Carney is a smart guy, and very capable, but he really strikes me as Michael Ignatieff v 2.0 as a federal politician.

I mean you can pretty much just copy and paste the opposition ads from Ignatieff's era.

That might work for people who don't remember that he was the governor of the bank of Canada.

edit: I did not have time this morning to explain why that fact is important.  The smear campaign against Ignatieff worked because Canadians had no idea who he was (outside of academics in his area of expertise).  Carney is in a very different position.  He was a long serving and well respected personality within Canada and he became a household name during his time  at the bank of Canada.  Not to mention the further exposure he got when he went on to perform that role in England. 

As a result there is no blank slate on which the Conservatives can create their own characterization.  His reputation is already well established.

What the hell, I'll engage against my better judgment.

The average Canadian has no idea who the governor of the Bank of Canada is, or what that person does.  Hell I had to google who the existing governor is (Tiff Macklem), and I do know what the Bank of Canada does.

Even beyond that though, he was last Governor in 2013 - over a decade ago.  Even putting aside his time as Governor of the Bank of England a lot of his career has been spent outside of Canada, with studying at Harvard and Oxford, his time with Goldman Sachs.  Even since stepping down from the Bank of England it's not clear to me where Carney spends most of his time - as he has roles with the UN, with Canadian companies, and also roles in the UK.

Look - he's very clearly a very smart man (as is Ignatieff).  He's very clearly much smarter than both Trudeau or Poilievre.  It's maybe unfortunate that someone with as powerful a resume as Carney's would be so easy to attack - but I think history shows it would be very easy to attack him using the same lines as Ignatieff.