LILLEY: Carney continues to lie his way through campaign
Liberal leader said it’s a ’fact’ Poilievre would ban abortion even though the Tory has said he won’t
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Mark Carney is showing once again that he’s willing to tell bald-faced lies to get elected. On Monday, the Liberal leader even doubled down on one of his lies when confronted with the truth.
While making a health-care announcement in Charlottetown, P.E.I., Carney was confronted by a reporter after claiming that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre would ban abortion in Canada.
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“You have just accused Mr. Poilievre of using the notwithstanding clause to attack abortion rights. But Mr. Poilievre explicitly said he would not do so. So why this accusation?” the reporter asked.
Carney’s answer was shocking.
“It’s an accusation, but it’s not an accusation; it’s a fact,” Carney said.
Let’s be clear, this isn’t Mark Carney claiming that he’s worried Poilievre would use the notwithstanding clause to ban abortion. He’s not saying he has concerns about this, he’s saying it is a fact when reminded that Poilievre has said the opposite.
That’s lying about your opponent, but lying is something Mark Carney does with disturbing ease.
“We are not going to pass laws to restrict abortion rights. That has been our policy for 20 years, and it is not going to change. That is a guarantee I am giving you,” Poilievre said on the debate stage just feet from Carney in Montreal last week.
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Carney likes to portray himself as a serious Catholic and just earlier had been speaking about the death of Pope Francis, calling him “a voice of moral clarity.” He had spoken about working with the pope, learning from him and his writings such as the papal encyclical Laudato si’.
Well, there is an older and simpler Catholic teaching that Mark Carney needs to learn, “You shall not bear false witness.”
Yet, time and again, this is what Carney does.
On Monday he lied about Poilievre’s position on abortion. He has lied about having nothing to do with moving his company headquarters from Toronto to New York City. He lied when he claimed to have helped Paul Martin balance the budget despite not working in the finance department until years after the budget was balanced. He didn’t lie about working to help Canada during the financial crisis but he did exaggerate his role in that, taking credit for the work of the late Jim Flaherty.
His first act as prime minister was to sit before the cameras and sign “an executive order” to lower the carbon tax. What he actually signed, Donald Trump style, was a piece of paper with no legal authority, meaning his first act after taking the job was to lie to the public.
After he was sworn in as PM, Carney said he wouldn’t speak to Trump until the American president showed Canada some respect. In reality, Carney had called Trump immediately after being sworn in but Trump wouldn’t speak to him until about two weeks later.
A cynical person would say that all politicians lie. In fact, readers will often write to say they know a politician is lying when their lips are moving.
That’s not the truth.
While all politicians will put the best spin they can on any particular issue, they will frame a topic of discussion in the best light for their purposes, that is not lying. Carney lies about things that are easily verifiable and in ways that he doesn’t need to.
If Carney wants to say that he disagrees with Poilievre on using the notwithstanding clause to keep mass murderers in jail and that he worries where that will go, he should do so. To claim it is a fact that Poilievre is going to ban abortion in an effort to scare some voters away from him when he has emphatically stated the opposite is wrong, it’s a lie.
Carney lies far too easily, he’s incredibly casual with the truth and that should worry any voter.
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