Dear editor:

The international and domestic landscape has changed significantly, particularly with Trudeau resigning, and I now believe that Carney is best suited to deal strategically and intellectually with Canada’s domestic challenges.

It’s best to compare the abilities of each candidate and identify which candidate has the skillset to comprehend and deal with complex issues like free trade, tariffs, economics, business and finance. Who is best suited to provide strategic solutions to difficult problems?

Poilievre graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Calgary. Ever since 2000, he has worked for or been involved in the Conservative political movement. He has not held a job in finance, banking, economics or business in the private sector. He is a career politician with little, if any, experience in these fields.

Carney graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University in 1988, and subsequently earned a doctorate of philosophy. He held various roles at Goldman Sachs, was the Bank of Canada’s deputy governor, then its governor, senior associate deputy minister for the Department of Finance Canada, governor of the Bank of England, chair and head of impact investing at Brookfield Asset Management, chair of Bloomberg L.P.’s board of directors, the United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance and chair of the Liberal Party’s economic growth taskforce.

Comparatively speaking, Carney stands heads and shoulders above Poilievre in terms of abilities.

Yes, Carney was Trudeau’s adviser, but can anyone say what Carney’s advice was and if it was taken by Trudeau or ignored?

I don’t believe that Poilievre has the skillset to understand or intelligently deal with Canada’s complex economic and financial positions and their intertwined interactions.

Carney has those skills and is already successful in the international business community with incredible contacts that could provide insight and feedback. Poilievre yearns for success and possesses none of those important touchstones.

Carney has indicated Canada needs to decouple from the U.S. and focus on reducing internal hindrances to growth, developing Canadian strengths through infrastructure expansion and developing greater trade alliances with Europe and other countries for our valuable products in a mutually beneficial way. I agree with this approach.

He has proposed, among other things:

•  Removing barriers to internal trade, lowering prices for consumers by reducing trade costs by up to 15 per cent, expanding our economy by up to $200 billion.
• Identifying projects of national interest that cross interprovincial boundaries, prioritizing and accelerating them, attracting investment, stimulating job creation and economic growth.

Poilievre’s proposals are vague, with little strategic detail on how to make Canada more self-sufficient and prosperous. Or, how to pay for it.

You are voting for either Carney, the businessman, or Poilievre, the politician. Government should be run like a business, not for political purposes.

Gienek Ksiazkiewicz
St. Davids