Near the end of Mark Carney’s best selling book Value(s), he talks about a landmark on Headington High Street where the owner of a home “… had constructed a giant sculpture of a shark attacking his roof on an otherwise nondescript street” (p.518).
Carney says:
“Over the years I have thought back to the shark because it is not just nuclear fallout that spreads across borders, but financial instability, cyber-crime and climate chaos. To what extent can a country wall itself off from these sharks? And for those that try, what opportunities in trade and investment, ideas and creativity, do their citizens forfeit?”
What will we forfeit?
The Headington Shark must bother Mark Carney a lot these days. There are many sharks attacking our rooftops and Mr. Carney is thinking about what Canadians are going to forfeit.
Climate action seems to be the first on the list.
Hanging onto power seems to be the second as he continues to outflank the Conservatives by doing much of what they would have done had they gained power.
Giving into Trump appears to be another although few of us know the ins and outs of the various quids pro quo(s) that define the calculus of trade.
Herding all subnational jurisdictions also appears to be another. Each Premier and big city mayor knows well that political capital in Canada is monetized in terms of what you can wheel and deal away from Ottawa.
Book writing and leadership
Writing a book is hard.
Writing a book on value(s) – singular and plural – is even harder.
Running a country seems to mean that you have to give up those values – especially in the short term – to maintain viability and to chart a course as a nation’s leader.
How many prospective leaders have written such books?
In the US, Hillary Clinton was one; Obama another – and yes Donald Trump was yet another. We won’t soon forget the Art of the Deal.
But how many in Canada have done so?
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau wrote Federalism and the French Canadians (1968) outlining his vision for bilingualism, federalism, and national unity.
- Jean Chrétien wrote Straight from the Heart (1985) a personal memoir covering early life and political career helping him to reintroduce him to the public; and
- Justin Trudeau wrote Common Ground, an autobiographical memoir and political pitch released ahead of the 2015 election.
Among recent political leaders we should forget neither Jagmeet Singh (New Democratic Party) nor Elizabeth May who wrote three. Singh’s book Love & Courage: My Story of Family, Resilience, and Overcoming the Unexpected (2019) is a personal and emotional story.
Elizabeth May wrote
- Who We Are: Reflections on My Life and Canada (2014)
- Global Warming for Dummies (2008, co-authored)
- Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy (2009)
May’s volumes cover policy, environmental advocacy, and personal reflections.
In the end, there is just one rule: if you write a book about what you will do if you gain power, people will judge you against what you wrote.
Neither Singh nor May will face such judgment as they never became leaders of Canada’s government.
Both Chretien and Trudeau will each be judged in their obituaries which even now are only partially written.
Value proposition
But there is a current difference with Mark Carney. He has written a best seller before entering politics and he is only beginning his time as Prime Minister.
There are a lot of promises in Value(s) about how Canada should be led .
Right now, as the new champion of extraction, he is not living up to his promises.
But he does have time to right the ship and more than one advocate is going to smile and hand him a copy of his book with more than a meaningful glance.
Governing is unbelievably hard but he should accept these offerings and perhaps on a vacation, think deeply about the Headington shark and what Canadian citizens should forfeit (or not) on his watch.