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So, let’s take a walk through the Star’s archives to see what we can garner about the 59-year-old former central banker from Edmonton, Alta.

1. A star goaltender and ‘whiz kid’

As former Star business reporter Brett Popplewell wrote in September 2008, Carney was born in 1965 to a high school principal in the small village of Ft. Smith, NWT. The family would later move to Edmonton, where Carney grew up and impressed both as an academic and an athlete:

Carney was a star goaltender with his high school hockey team and valedictorian of his graduating class before leaving Canada to study economics at Harvard.聽He later earned a PhD at Oxford University. It was there that he met his British-born philanthropic wife, Diana.

From Oxford, he moved to London and to Goldman Sachs, one of the world鈥檚 largest financial firms, where, for 13 years, he trotted around the globe, banking in the world鈥檚 major markets聽鈥� London, New York, Tokyo and Toronto聽鈥� where he earned his 鈥渨hiz kid鈥� moniker.

2. From private to public sector

Carney’s colleagues at Goldman Sachs described him as a high flyer, according to Popplewell. And it wasn’t long before he leapt from the private sector to the public one. As Popplewell explained:听听

He left that post (as a managing director at Goldman Sachs) and its undoubtedly rich pay in August 2003 to join the civil service. After a brief stint with the Bank of Canada in 2003-2004, Carney moved to the Ministry of Finance.

3. Second youngest to helm Bank of Canada

After a few years at the Ministry of Finance, Carney became governor of the Bank of Canada in February 2008, a month shy of his 43rd birthday. That made him the second youngest to take the job in the bank’s history.聽

The former investment banker beat out the central bank’s then senior deputy governor for the role. Here’s what former Star reporter Les Whittington wrote about Carney’s appointment back in October 2007:

It鈥檚 the second time that a government has thrust aside the bank鈥檚 tradition of appointing from within to name an outsider as governor ... But Carney turned aside suggestions that he won the coveted post because of closeness to (Finance Minister Jim) Flaherty and denied his relationship with the finance minister would diminish the bank鈥檚 role as an independent agency.

4. A ‘steady hand’ during 2008-09 financial crisis

As governor of the Bank of Canada, Carney’s often credited for helping the country avoid economic disarray during the financial meltdown. He appeared to have earned that reputation before he’d even walked in the door, as Popplewell wrote in 2008:

Upon his appointment last October, Carney was described by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty as 鈥渁 steady hand鈥� whose international experience and understanding of high finance would 鈥渉elp maintain the stability of Canada鈥檚 monetary system.”

Early praise proved prescient. By September 2010, Star business columnist David Olive was crediting聽the central banker for “the alacrity and competence with which he responded to the global economic meltdown of 2008-09,” including by cutting the Bank of Canada’s聽key lending rate to a record low 0.25 per cent and flooding markets with liquidity.

5. Praised a Canadian culture of ‘prudence’

One major reason Canada’s economy avoided the carnage suffered by the U.S. and elsewhere was a culture of prudence,聽Carney asserted to former Star reporter Mitch Potter during a trip to London in November 2008:

The Canadian regulatory framework, he said, is the biggest part of 鈥渨hy we鈥檙e better off鈥� than others. But another element, he said, is 鈥渢he culture, the risk-management culture of our institutions.”

”...There is a prudent element to the Canadian character. But we also have to take the right decisions. We can鈥檛 just rely on prudence. It has to be applied at a regulatory level.鈥�

6. Gift of the gab

Unlike some of his more staid predecessors at Canada’s central bank, Carney became known for colourful quotes,聽as Les Whittington wrote in May 2013:听

It is unlikely any other central banker ever quoted Yogi Berra to MPs, once telling the upright members of the Commons finance committee that inflation means 鈥渁 nickel ain鈥檛 worth a dime anymore.鈥�

Another time, after being pressed by the media for weeks about a possible run for the leadership of the Liberal party, he finally quipped: 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 I become a circus clown?鈥� And when told in 2011 that he鈥檇 been chosen 鈥淢ost Trusted Canadian鈥� by Reader鈥檚 Digest, Carney chuckled. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to say that without laughing, isn鈥檛 it?鈥�

He also turned heads for,聽Whittington wrote in Novemeber 2012, “saying he understands the frustration behind the Occupy Wall Street protests and arguing that in future shareholders and executives 鈥� rather than taxpayers 鈥� should bear the cost of financial meltdowns.”

7. First foreign head of Bank of England

In the fall of 2012, the Ministry of Finance announced that Carney would leave his post at the Bank of Canada early to take the top job at the Bank of England the following summer. (He had previously denied rumours he was interested in the gig.)聽

His appointment made history,聽wrote Whittington in November 2012:听

Carney will be the first foreigner to head the tradition-steeped, 318-year-old Bank of England. But Carney noted he is 鈥渘ot without ties鈥� to the U.K. His wife Diana is British-born and his four daughters are dual Canadian-British citizens. 鈥淚 lived there for a decade. I know a lot of people in the City,鈥� he added, referring to London鈥檚 financial district. 鈥淥bviously, I think I can play a constructive role as the governor.鈥�

He served in this role from July 2013 until March 2020.聽

8. Denied political ambitions years ago

In Carney’s final days at the Bank of Canada, Whittington described the outgoing governor as a “media darling with a flare for the controversial.” (Carney had said his frequent media presence was the result of overcommunicating during a crisis.) Here’s more from Whittington:

So well did the one-time Goldman Sachs executive succeed in projecting himself onto the national stage that he has been plagued by rumours that he has an eye, ultimately, on the job of Canadian prime minister.

鈥淚 do not have political ambitions,鈥� he felt obliged in February to inform British parliamentarians vetting his appointment as Britain鈥檚 central banker. 鈥淚f I had political ambitions, I would have pursued them in Canada.鈥�

Carney had been touted as a leading contender for Liberal leadership in 2012 despite claiming he wasn’t interested, Whittington later writes.聽

9. But the rumours continued

Amid concerns about the 2019 election, former Star columnist Chantal Hebert wrote that spring that Liberal insiders were again considering Carney for leader:

On a recent conference call, a group of them discussed how Trudeau鈥檚 diminished prospects could result in an early opportunity for Carney to succeed him.

...聽Carney now occupies a place in the imaginary firmament of some Liberal insiders once reserved for Michael Ignatieff and, before him, Paul Martin. That the first turned out to be a shooting star and the second lost his shine once in office is unlikely to deter self-appointed Liberal headhunters from combing the galaxy for the party鈥檚 next saviour.

Five years later, his name would crop up again, as Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Alex Ballingall wrote this past May:

Carney is 鈥渘ot deaf鈥� to the speculation about his ambitions (longtime friend and former CTV host Evan Solomon said). Like many people in politics, Carney has the personality of someone who wants a key responsibility when they jump in the game, he said.聽

If the captain鈥檚 job comes up for grabs, why wouldn鈥檛 he want to wear the 鈥淐鈥�?