Carson Jerema: Chairman Carney is here to take over the economy

If Canada is to double non-U.S. exports, it needs pipelines, but the prime minister isn't interested in those

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Mark Carney announced his “ambitious goal” to double “non-U.S. exports” on Wednesday night, but he didn’t mean it, and no one should take it as a serious government objective, no matter how many professorial hand gestures the prime minister makes.

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There is a relatively straightforward way for Canada to increase non-U.S. exports — by clearing the way for the construction of pipelines to both coasts, as well as building LNG export terminals. But Carney shows little sign of being interested in what Canada actually has to offer, only in the ways he can exert greater control over the economy.

So instead of outlining a plan that would actually increase exports, Carney’s speech at the University of Ottawa recycled nearly all of the themes he’s been talking about since he entered the Liberal leadership race in the winter. He talked of “hinge” moments and the need for making “tough choices,” about how we live in a “dangerous and divided” world and about how the “long process” of deepening economic integration with America is “now over.”

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