Eyeing leadership bid, Carney namedrops Fort Smith on Daily Show

Say what you will about the Liberal Party’s political turmoil, at least it’s getting Fort Smith on US television.

Mark Carney, the former Bank of England and Bank of Canada governor widely expected to announce a Liberal leadership bid this week, namedropped his Northwest Territories hometown as he set out his vision for Canada in a Monday appearance on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show.

Carney spent his first six years in Fort Smith before moving to Edmonton.

He mentioned the NWT on the show while referring to the devastating impact of wildfires both on Canada and in places like Los Angeles, where multiple fires continue to burn.

“The fires in Canada, including where I was born, my hometown Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, around where I grew up in Alberta … the fires alone would have made Canada the fourth-largest emitter in the world, after the United States, China and India,” Carney said of 2023’s extreme wildfire season.

He was discussing how insurance companies had seen that kind of devastation coming 10 years ago and attempted to adjust their practice accordingly, but were still being surprised by the extent of fire seasons in the 2020s.

“They’re pulling back insurance – you can’t get insurance in many coastal areas in Florida, you can’t get insurance, obviously, in Los Angeles – so they’ve been pulling back,” said Carney.

“And still, even with all that sophistication, the number of these extreme weather events that they insure has gone up three times, and the cost of it has gone up five times. So they are furiously backpedalling.”

Setting out examples of how he would approach emissions and climate change as a leader, Carney said Canada needs to address those issues while making its companies more competitive and ensuring “Canadians today are not paying the price.”

Pressed by Stewart on how that would be possible, he responded: “The vast majority of our emissions in Canada come from our industry. In fact, almost 30 percent of our emissions from Canada come from the production and shipment of oil to the United States. Part of it is cleaning that up, getting those emissions down, more than changing in a very short period of time the way Canadians live.”

Trudeau departure ‘gives Liberals a chance’

The Conservative Party, which remains the runaway favourite to win the forthcoming federal election, has used the nickname “Carbon Tax Carney” in a bid to associate Carney with the Liberal Party’s existing approach to emissions and climate change.

After this article was first published, Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman attacked Carney with that same moniker in an email to Cabin Radio, stating he was “trying to rewrite history to convince Canadians that he is not responsible for the policies” of Justin Trudeau’s government.

On The Daily Show, Carney had tried to put distance between himself and the party as it stands, asserting that Trudeau’s forthcoming resignation has, in his opinion, given the party “a chance” in the next election.

“Let’s say the candidate wasn’t part of the government. Let’s say the candidate did have a lot of economic experience. Let’s say the candidate did deal with crises. Let’s say the candidate had a plan to deal with the challenges in the here and now,” he said, describing how someone might successfully tackle the issues Canada faces.

Stewart interrupted to state: “You’re running as an outsider,” to which Carney responded: “I am an outsider.” (The Conservatives, in their email, said he was “the furthest thing possible from an outsider” as he had been acting as an informal advisor to Trudeau.)

Carney still stopped short of saying out loud, when asked by Stewart, that he was running for the Liberal leadership. That confirmation is expected to come at an event later this week.

“Canadians have been very hard pressed in last few years. Wages have not kept up with inflation. People are falling behind, not getting ahead. Housing is very expensive, and there’s this broader concern – again, exclamation point put on by the Trump tariffs – about what the future brings,” Carney said, giving a preview of how he’s expected to frame his campaign.

“The world is more divided. It’s more dangerous. What are we going to do? And truth be told, the government has been not as focused on those issues as it could be. We need to focus on them immediately. That can happen now.”

Confirmed Liberal leadership candidates so far include outsiders Cape Breton MP Jaime Battiste, former Montreal MP Frank Baylis and Ottawa backbencher Chandra Arya.

Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to announce she will seek the leadership and would be considered a front-runner.

Former BC premier Christy Clark has said she is considering a bid. Others who might run include ministers Jonathan Wilkinson, Karina Gould and François-Philippe Champagne.

Correction: January 14, 2025 – 9:28 MT. This article initially attributed the Conservatives’ most recent comments about Carney to a press secretary at the party. While the press secretary sent the email, the comments themselves were from the party’s deputy leader.