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Canada’s Mark Carney, the favourite to win the leadership of the Federal Liberal Party of Canada, is the fastest runner in this political race. The 59-year-old is an admired economist and is highly experienced and well-educated. He also ran the London Marathon in the time of 3:31:22 at age 50. Not elite, but certainly good considering his line of work.
The former Bank of England’s governor bettered Antony Jenkins, the 53-year-old Barclays chief executive, by an hour and a half. Carney could have run another 15 kilometres before Jenkins finished.
Carney’s performance was faster than the men’s average of 4:04:30, and far faster than the average for his age group (50-54), which was 4:02:31. According to the USATF age grade calculator it converts the performance to a 3:07:00 in the open category. Meanwhile, other calculators point to a 3:02:00 to 3:04:00 marathon.
Mark Carney has a resume that overshadows all others in the race
Carney has a PhD in economics. He graduated at the top of his class at Harvard before moving to Oxford.
The father of four went on to work at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, Boston, London, New York, and Toronto. Four of the Marathon Majors cities.
Carney worked on South Africa’s post-apartheid venture into international bond markets and was involved in Goldman’s work with the 1998 Russian financial crisis.
He then moved into the Canadian government working under the finance ministers Ralph Goodale and Jim Flaherty, respectively.
The Fort Smith, Northwest Territories native, was the governor of the Bank of Canada. He was the youngest head of any bank in the G8 nations. Carney’s work to keep Canada stable during the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 is admired by his cohorts scattered around the world.
In 2012, Carney became the first-ever non-British governor of the Bank of England, which was established in 1694.
The 59-year-old Canadian, who now holds Irish and British passports, worked extensively in the private and public sectors.
Carney has announced his candidacy to run for the leadership of the federal Liberal party. He soft launched on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday, January 13. By that Thursday, he made his candidacy official. Therefore, he will take a run for the position of prime minister.
He has come a long way from the small town of 1749 people located smack-dab in the middle of the Great White North.
Wealth inequality
In 2011, Carney referred to the Occupy Wall Street protests as “entirely constructive.” He was well aware of the frustrations over inequality and increasing CEO-to-worker pay gaps — especially in the US.
In December 2016, Carney warned of the societal risk of “staggering wealth inequalities” in a Roscoe Lecture at John Moores University in Liverpool. He said, “The proportion of the wealth held by the richest 1 percent of Americans increased from 25 percent in 1990 to 40 percent in 2012. Canada, while not as disparate, is experiencing a similar trend.
According to the Bank of Canada’s document published in 2022, “Income inequality in Canada,” income inequality increased substantially during the 1980s and first half of the 1990s. However, the trend has slowed and is now more stable. Many factors were at play over these periods. Monetary policy actions to bring excessive inflation under control and to limit a further buildup of economic vulnerabilities partly played a role.
Carney navigated some of these turbulent waters.
“Globally, the share of wealth held by the richest 1 percent in the world rose from one-third in 2000 to one-half in 2010,” according to Carney.
There is a chasm between the rich and the so-called middle class. The gap is even greater with those below the poverty line. Meanwhile, the growth of people experiencing homelessness on downtown streets, as they cart the entirety of their worldly possessions in borrowed shopping carts is real.
Importantly, Carney likely has more real-world public and private experience and greater and better-valued education than any other politician in the world, full stop.
At the very least, Carney has the acumen and resume to speak to US President Donald Trump in real-world terms and on financial matters in the language that he understands.
Trump will be mightily impressed with the Harvard and Oxford-educated prime minister who worked for Goldman Sachs.During Trump’s first term, he looked to fill his Cabinet and administration with former Goldman Sachs executives during his first term.
Trump first appointed Steve Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker and managing partner, as the White House chief strategist. Then, he tapped Steven Mnuchin, a 17-year Goldman veteran, as Treasury secretary. Additionally, he also met with Goldman Sachs President and COO Gary Cohn, who was being considered for the Office of Management and Budget.
Mark Carney is the best possible candidate to deal with The Donald and Freeland would make a good deputy prime minister again.