John Robson: Carney’s investment summit is all talk, no action

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So there was this giant Toronto “investment summit” gabfest that was classic Mark Carney. And I don’t mean it in a good way.

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Yes, we must do better economically. Growth is anemic, per capita income stagnant, productivity weak, housing a dream and affordability a nightmare. But the solution is prosaic: lower taxes, less regulation, more certainty. Whereas Carney is grandiose, meddlesome and detail-averse.

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In July he answered a question on military procurement with “I just got here.” But he didn’t. He’s been prime minister for a year and a half, burbling about building at speeds not seen in generations without any sense of urgency or practical touch.

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As Bank of England governor he was nicknamed “the unreliable boyfriend” for flip-flopping on interest rates, his one important real-world grubby-detail responsibility. As United Nations special envoy on climate action and finance, he exchanged Davosian cliches with his jet-set peers about transformation, leverage and catalytics. But all he did was create the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which promptly collapsed. He’s a blatherskite.

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Thus he told summit attendees, “The world is looking at Canada differently. And I suggest we should look at ourselves differently too.” So why bring them to hear from us, not the reverse? It drives me nuts that he praises “buying Canadian and travelling in Canada” on returning from a lavish foreign vacation. But the big problem is the thinking behind how he talks.

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Bringing a bunch of rich globalist insiders to Toronto to confer in their high tower while we peasants gape outside is exactly what the economy doesn’t require. And here the medium is the message.

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If markets worked as Adam Smith or Ronald Reagan thought, the last thing anyone would want or need is government advertising investment opportunities. The usual leftists are yapping the usual stuff about selling out to U.S. President Donald Trump’s cronies and “basically giving away massive parts of our public services to American CEOs.” But as usual they’ve totally missed the point.

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This summit isn’t capitalism. It’s state capitalism. Which never works. As the Post’s John Ivison wrote, Canada is a hotbed of strikes, which the government keeps quashing. And a regime with a generous right to strike until the PM says no brings certainty to no one, from unions to capitalists.

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Facing a debt morass, Carney holds meandering budget consultations that shun coherent principle for a wish-list subject to PMO favouritism not stable rules. At the languid pace at which the Major Projects Office accomplishes nothing.

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Thus our hapless industry minister said of the summit, “I’m confident that we can get to MOUs, so intent of investment.” They love memoranda of understanding, which are exactly like agreements without the agreement. Hence: “This fall we will begin intense discussions with the European Union … to build a much stronger and deeper economic and security partnership.” Not conclude discussions. Not reach a deal. Just words about words.