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Carson Jerema: L'État, c'est Carney

The prime minister's investment summit was about asserting business operates at his pleasure

In between ignoring Parliament after walking away from trade negotiations with the U.S. and ignoring Parliament to speak to the European Union, Prime Minister Mark Carney ignored Parliament to announce a suite of new economic policies, while hosting his “investor’s summit” in Toronto this week.

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Previous prime ministers certainly viewed the House of Commons as inconvenient. What makes Carney unique is that he doesn’t seem to consider it at all, not even as an obstacle to overcome or a tedious obligation of his office. It would be too much to say he wished Parliament didn’t exist, because in his mind it is not clear that it does, unless he is physically in the building.

Carson Jerema: L'État, c'est Carney Back to video

To be clear, the tax reform on new investments that would slash effective rates to half of what the U.S. offers announced by Carney on Tuesday is definitely welcome policy. Just as privatizing airports is appropriate for incentivizing private investment, assuming that doesn’t mean excessive government subsidy. But the venue of these policy announcements had more to do with Carney’s “L’État, c’est moi” worldview than with signalling Canada is “open for business.”

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