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  • Peter Black is a radio broadcaster and writer based in Quebec City. He has worked on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in Montreal as a newspaper reporter and editor, and as a translator and freelance writer.

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December 2, 2011

Mark Carney, banking superstar

PETER BLACK, Canadian Dispatch Press-Republican

When he retires at some distant date, Mark Carney may reflect on his legacy.

Will it be, as the headlines say, as the man who saved the global economy from greed and corruption? Or as the governor of the Bank of Canada who gave the country plastic currency to replace cotton bills?

Either way, on the international financial scene or in the daily exchange of untold millions of dollars in retail sales, the 46-year-old Carney is getting noticed.

He was already a guy to watch in the stratosphere of world banking circles, largely for his early warnings about the imminent fall of the U.S. financial houses that wrought the 2008 collapse.

Then, a few weeks ago, Carney, born and raised in the remote Northwest Territories, about as far from Wall Street or Davos as you can imagine, was named head of the Financial Stability Board, described as the watchdog of world banking.

This development prompted Canada's national news magazine to put Carney's handsome mug on the cover under the headline: "The Canadian Hired to Save The World".

His job will be to head up the unit the G7 created in the wake of the Asian financial meltdown of the late 1990s to keep banking outfits around the planet in line. While not equipped with any specific powers to compel banks to comply with corrective measures, it can use the not-inconsiderable power of "naming and shaming," as one observer put it.

Obviously, the state of the European economy is on top of the pile in Carney's in-box at the Financial Stability Board.

In a speech in Montreal this week, he warned that the teetering situation of the eurozone is "barely contained" but, "It's absolutely possible to find a solution to this problem. They have the means. They have the solutions. But they have to put them into practice. And better to do that this week, not next year."

This superstar banker, if you will, is the protege of the man credited with whipping Canada's financial house into order, to the point where Canada's economy is routinely ranked among the most stable in the world. Paul Martin was the Liberal finance minister from 1993 to 2002, when he became prime minister. His most notable quote might be his vow in 1994 to slay the ballooning federal deficit come "hell or high water" (which happens to be the title of his recent memoirs).

Martin brought his business savvy and social conscience to politics but also his determination to take the tough steps necessary to bring under control critically deteriorating government finances. Much to the anguish of federal employees and provincial governments, Martin pulled it off, and in 2006, he left the incoming Conservative government with a healthy surplus.

Martin also head-hunted this young phenom in the financial world. Carney had been an investment banker in London, Tokyo and New York but in 2003 accepted the offer to become deputy governor of Canada's central bank.

In 2008, Carney ascended to the top banking job — by far the youngest to hold such a lofty post, and arguably the most outspoken. For example, in a recent TV interview, this banking czar described the Occupy movement (which began on Wall Street) as "entirely constructive. I understand the frustration of many people, particularly in the United States. You've had a big increase in the ratio of CEO earnings to workers on the shop floor."

Carney has three years remaining in his mandate as governor of the Bank of Canada, which means he'd still be less than 50 when he'll be free to pursue other things.

Naturally, there is already media speculation that the banking wunderkind will be hotly courted to make the leap into federal politics, perhaps following in the polished wingtips of his mentor Martin.

If that were to be the case, Carney's legacy might be considerably more historic than having his name on Canada's new polymer money — or saving the world.

Peter Black is a radio broadcaster and writer based in Quebec City. He has worked on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in Montreal as a newspaper reporter and editor, and as a translator and freelance writer. He can be reached at pmblack@videotron.ca.

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  • peter_black.jpg French voting in North America

    There are reminders out there that the world, or at least a certain stratum of the world, once operated in French, Canadian columnist Peter Black writes.

    May 18, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Conrad Black returns home

    It's not just because we share a surname — though no known family connections — that I follow from a distance the life and times of Conrad Black (Lord Black of Crossharbour, actually), columnist Peter Black writes.

    May 4, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Tainted birthday for Canadian charter

    There's a stain on the Canadian Constitution —- literally, and some say figuratively, as well, writes Canadian columnist Peter Black.

    April 20, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Caisse: the people's conglomerate

    It's been many years since I've been to Miami, so I don't recall the Mary Brickell Village area, which apparently is now one of the most popular destinations for shopping, dining and drinking in the bustling city's downtown, writes Canadian columnist Peter Black.

    April 6, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Opposition battles for the center

    If Thomas Mulcair is elected leader of the New Democratic Party this weekend, as most observers say he will be, it will create one of the more ironic situations in modern Canadian politics — this in a country created by a seemingly contradictory Liberal-Conservative Party, Canadian columnist Peter Black writes.

    March 23, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Climate change threatens rinks

    This morning, as I do most mornings once the city puts up the boards for my local outdoor rink, usually in late November, I checked the condition of the ice, Canadian columnist Peter Black writes.

    March 9, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg The town the colonel built

    My wife's grandfather was a newspaperman in Montreal who accumulated a mountain of books during his career, Canadian columnist Peter Black writes.

    February 24, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Madonna returns to roots

    "The Super Bowl was the rehearsal for her Quebec show," the mayor of Quebec City joked this week. Regis Labeaume was referring to news that global megastar Madonna was coming to his city to work it out musically on Labor Day on the Plains of Abraham, Canadian columnist Peter Black writes.

    February 10, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Tinker, tailor, soldier and spy

    The arrest last week of a Canadian navy intelligence officer on charges of espionage has people wondering whether the Cold War ever ended, Peter Black writes.

    January 27, 2012 1 Photo

  • peter_black.jpg Canadian Liberals weigh holding primary

    American politics is baffling to Canadians at the best of times, what with all those complicated checks and balances, states' rights and electoral colleges and all, Canadian columnist Peter Black writes.

    January 13, 2012 1 Photo