Carney refuses to say whether he will advise Liberals to review carbon tax

NANAIMO: During his first address to reporters after being appointed advisor to the Liberal Party, Mark Carney refused to say whether he would urge them to review the carbon tax.The former Bank of Canada governor did not make clear which way he would try to sway those in charge, only suggesting Canada needed to maintain its environmental policies."Sometimes what happens with these issues is that the focus misses an important other aspect," he said at the Liberals' caucus retreat in Nanaimo, BC, "which is that being low carbon is going to be a determinant of whether we can create jobs, whether we can sell our products in the United States, in Europe, around the world. We have to help our companies become more competitive."He went on to suggest there is a "huge range of things" the federal government, provincial governments, and other stakeholders can do to achieve those goals."We need to be clear-eyed about not the challenge, but the scale of the opportunity," Carney continued. "No country is in a better position for this."He dismissed rumours that he was being scouted for a position in the government itself, making it clear that the appointment to advisor was the final outcome of the conversations he'd been having with Justin Trudeau."I'm an outsider," Carney argued. "I'm providing a perspective, gathering opinions from interested Canadians, and feeding them in so we can have the best possible growth strategy that puts people first, grows our economy not just short-term, but in the medium and long term, in a world that is fundamentally changing.".At her own press conference, Chrystia Freeland called Carney a "personal friend," and revealed that since becoming finance minister, she has frequently discussed economic policies with him.