How Canada’s next prime minister Mark Carney came to be inspired by Big Issue

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney is set to take the top job in Canada. He’s been elected as leader of the Liberal Party to replace Justin Trudeau, making him the de-facto prime minister of Canada.

Running on what essentially amounts to an anti-Donald Trump platform, Carney – an economist who has never held political office and was the first non-British person to hold the governorship of the Bank of England in more than 300 years – has vowed to “stand up to a bully” amid a bitter trade war.

In times like these of technological revolution and financial insecurity, bankers (or former bankers, as Carney now is) offer comforting reassurance or menacing uncertainty.

But for Canada’s newest leader, the way forward through this quagmire of change and ambiguity lies in the Big Issue’s ongoing mission to dismantle poverty against all odds – by learning from past mistakes.

Speaking at Canadian think tank Public Policy Forum’s annual awards dinner in April 2018, the then-governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney said: “I was walking in Edinburgh and there was a guy selling the Big Issue. It’s a magazine that’s sold by the homeless for the homeless.”

When your knees are about to buckle, crawl

You might be surprised that the new leader of Canada, and, therefore, the new president of the G7, is taking inspiration from the Big Issue. We’re not, we’re confident in the way forward.

“My favourite feature in the Big Issue is Letter to My Younger Self. These letters tend to have a wistfulness to them; a sense of lost opportunity or good fortune that wasn’t appreciated at the time.”

Carney described how he was inspired by our Letter to My Younger Self with megastar will.i.am, who told us: “When your knees are about to buckle, crawl. Do not give up.”

Carney explained: “The issue with these letters is because time doesn’t move backwards it’s too late for those authors to take their own advice,” he said. “These letters can still be useful, they’re useful for the young.”

Carney is a vital figurehead in these uncertain times as the post-Second World War order looks to be on the brink of collapse with the war in Ukraine, war in Gaza and the return of Donald Trump to the White House. And if he’s looking to us for answers, we’re assured he can steer us through rough waters ahead.

As Big Issue editor Paul McNamee says: “We will not give up.”

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