As the Greek economic tragedy unfolds before our very eyes, you may have missed that a Canadian has  been asked to come in and help clean up the mess.  Mark Carney, Bank of Canada Governor, was appointed head of the G20 Financial Stability Board.  The FSB will be responsible to bring in more regulations and oversight to world markets.  This position was historically held by either a European or American. I guess the G20 member countries came to the conclusions that Europeans and Americans know how to ruin an economy, but fixing it?…not so much.  So, it’s Captain Carney to the rescue.

 There’s no denying
Carney’s credentials and street cred.  He’s not a professor at the Harvard Business School.  He’s the BOC Governor, which is a position he plans on holding onto too.  He says the BOC gig is not a part –time job.  Really?  He has the time to do both jobs effectively?  I would never second guess the man, and the who’s who in the banking world is publicly supporting Carney’s role with the FSB.  I’m just thinking that’s a lot to put on one man’s plate.  Look, in Canada we’re used to his policies and we’ve adapted rather nicely. But  now he’s going to be dealing with Europeans, and America, who have a superiority complex when it comes to just about everything.  There’s isn’t a European out there that doesn’t believe their athletes, food, culture, sexual prowess, standard of living and socialistic view point is far superior than all other continents.   So having a Canadian come in to be the new sheriff…must be killing them.  What the Europeans, and Americans, are going to learn that is Carney is a tough hombre.  He was born in the Northwest Territory, and raised in Edmonton.  He loves hockey ,and he went to Harvard on a scholarship.  I never went to Harvard but I think you need a fair bit of grey matter between the ears to get a free ride at Harvard.  He worked at Goldman Sachs before joining the BOC in 2003.  The man has practical and theoretical experience.

 You can’t help but feel a little proud that a Canadian was appointed to this position.  I had nothing to do with it, but hell, he’s one of ours.  It’s like when a hockey player pulls on a team Canada jersey.  It doesn’t matter what team he plays for in the NHL. When the red maple leaf is on the front of the jersey, he’s one of ours.  Regulations impacts all of us.  In some cases it’s costly, and at times it can be difficult to do business when regulations become too restrictive.  That being said, the Canadian system is good blue print for other countries to follow, and a Canadian’s fingerprints will be all over new regulations for countries making up the G20.

If I could give Carney one piece of advice it would be this; when in doubt…go back to your hockey roots.  If the Greeks or Italians give you a hard time, drop your gloves, pull their Armani suit jackets over their heads, and start throwing uppercuts.  And remember there’s 34 million Canadians willing to jump over the boards.  Nothing like a good old fashioned political bench clearing brawl.

 Until next time

 Cheers.