Something unexpected happened this week while I was circumnavigating the world with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Not only did he appear to enjoy himself and relax during a question-and-answer session, he was even briefly potty-mouthed.
When this newsletter goes out, Mr. Carney and his entourage, which includes me, will be traveling back to Ottawa after visiting two cities in India, two more in Australia, and finally Tokyo. It was a trip with three key objectives: providing a platform for his call to the world’s middle powers — countries, like Canada, that are influential but not superpowers — to unite, restoring or buffing up nation-to-nation relationships, and selling Canada to foreign investors and corporations.
Of course, the American and Israel strikes on Iran added an unplanned issue right at the trip’s outset.
[Read: Defense Without U.S. Help Is a Live Topic for Canada, Japan and Australia]
[Read: Carney Says Canada and Australia Can ‘Set the Agenda’ as World Faces ‘Crises’]
Fun was not on the agenda unless your idea of a good time is looking at displays and models of military equipment in an Australian airplane hangar.
It was a sharp contrast to 2018, the last time a Canadian prime minister visited India. On that trip, Justin Trudeau conspicuously mixed business and pleasure and raised eyebrows both in Canada and India when he and his family slipped into colorful, traditional Indian dress and were photographed at various famous tourist sites.
There was no Taj Mahal visit for the sometimes camera- and question-shy Mr. Carney, who fills his days on trips with successive meetings rather than sightseeing. He didn’t appear at a news conference for several days after Israel and the United States launched their attacks.
Mr. Carney’s position on those strikes became an evolving affair. The initial statement, issued as a news release and then worked into a speech Mr. Carney delivered to executives and investors in Mumbai, offered unqualified support for the attack.
While it was based on Canada’s longstanding formal opposition to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died in the attack a week ago, many in Canada noted that the United States and Israel hadn’t consulted the United Nations or anyone else in advance, contrary to the international body’s charter.
When the prime minister’s news conference came, Mr. Carney said that his support came “with regret, because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order.”
Later still, although Mr. Carney had emphatically ruled out Canadian participation in the attacks, he acknowledged that the country would send troops if any allies needed protection because of the war.
While the attack diverted global and Canadian attention from Mr. Carney’s tour, which was part of his effort to band together the world’s middle powers, it nevertheless had a high profile in each of the three countries he visited. In New Delhi, so many color photographs of Mr. Carney were attached to phone poles that a visitor could be forgiven for assuming that he was running for office there.
When he was the central banker of Canada and then England, Mr. Carney’s words were carefully parsed by traders for signals about changes in things like interest rates. So, by necessity, he chose his words with great care.
Since becoming a politician a year ago, Mr. Carney hasn’t completely shaken off that past when speaking publicly.
His speeches, which he drafts mostly by himself, are filled with phrases and words you’re not likely to hear at your local Tim Hortons — words like “hegemon” (a major power) or “variable geometry,” which Mr. Carney defines as “creating different coalitions for different issues, based on common values and interests.”
[Read: Carney Says That Canada’s Support for Airstrikes Came ‘With Regret’]
[Read: Canada’s Leader Hails New Ties With India, Setting Aside Rift Over Killing]
When answering questions, Mr. Carney frequently interrupts himself to say that he may be going on too long.
But in a former men’s private clubhouse in Sydney, Australia, that’s now home to the Lowy Institute, a think tank, Mr. Carney let his guard down in public. Sitting under several impressive chandeliers were people he knew in the audience, including Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister.
The final question in an onstage chat that followed the suggestion was simple: Is it more fun to be a central banker or a prime minister?
Mr. Carney laid out the pluses and minuses of both jobs, and then said: “Who has more fun? Well, boy, the dinners at Basel were — I mean, they were crazy.”
Basel was a reference to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a group of central bankers and bank supervisors.
With little prodding, an animated Mr. Carney described a working dinner at the start of the 2008 bank crisis, hosted by Jean-Claude Trichet, then the head of the European Central Bank.
The group had 90 minutes to make several critical decisions about the global banking and monetary system. But, in Mr. Carney’s telling, Mr. Trichet opened with a protracted discussion about the group’s wine options before checking the clock and saying, “Listen, we only have an hour.”
Recalling his reaction at the time, the normally proper Mr. Carney dropped an expletive.
The wine chat was apparently worthwhile, however. “An hour later, all I remember is how the wine is fantastic,” he said.
Trans Canada
This section was compiled by Vjosa Isai, a reporter based in Toronto.
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Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times. A Windsor, Ontario, native now based in Ottawa, he has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times. A Windsor, Ontario, native now based in Ottawa, he has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
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