Stephen Harper’s new memoir revisits Mark Carney rivalry, Pierre Poilievre and a day of fear on the Hill - Toronto Star

In 'Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister,' Harper disputes a claim about Mark Carney from 2012 and reflects on his decade in power.

Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper speaks during the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026.

OTTAWA—In a massive 645-page memoir, Stephen Harper aims to set the record straight.

Publishing Tuesday, “Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister” is clearly written for the history books, but for readers and chroniclers of today’s events, the former Conservative party leader’s memoir reveals where he thinks the mainstream media got it wrong, not least when it comes to his ties to current Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Harper says he never offered the Liberal prime minister the job of finance minister in his Conservative government, contrary to what Carney has said publicly.

Although Harper respects Carney’s performance as central bank governor — he appointed Carney to lead the Bank of Canada — the Conservative says he only dangled the finance job in front of Carney as a possibility, conditional upon the central banker jumping into Harper’s side of politics. 

By that time, Harper says he and then-finance minister Jim Flaherty already suspected Carney was a Liberal. Harper casts his offer to Carney as intended to either flush him out or commit him to staying within the non-partisan guardrails of his office. “Minister Flaherty increasingly brought concerns to my attention. These mostly revolved around his belief that the governor was nurturing political ambitions, including the possibility of running for leader of the Liberal party,” Harper writes, calling it a “serious concern for us.”

Harper said it was “evident there was something to it,” and discussed it with Nigel Wright, his chief of staff then on leave from investment giant Onex. 

In his massive 645-page memoir, “Here for Canada: Memoirs of the 22nd Prime Minister” Stephen Harper aims to set the record straight.

“Nigel had known Governor Carney for many years. He suggested that the way to deal with this was to offer Mark the possibility of joining the Conservative government instead. The idea was inspired,” Harper writes. “If Carney accepted the offer, it would be good for the government. But, if he refused, he would have to say it was because the governor should not enter partisan politics. Indeed, he could not expect to maintain Liberal aspirations and remain governor for our government.”

Harper said he raised it with Carney in mid-2012. “Obviously, I did not offer him the post of minister of finance, as it was then not available. However, I indicated that, if he chose to join the government, he would be the leading candidate should the post come open.

“Mark took some time to reflect on the opportunity, ultimately declaring that he should stay out of partisan politics. Carney would soon depart for the governorship of the Bank of England. In this case, the rest really is history!”

On Nov. 26, 2012, Carney was appointed as governor of the Bank of England, a post he held from July 2013 to March 15, 2020. He went on to become UN special envoy on sustainable climate finance and later Brookfield Asset Management chair, and slowly entered Liberal politics. In 2024, after Justin Trudeau’s grip on the Liberal leadership faltered, launching a leadership race in early 2025, Carney jumped in.

Although Carney has not offered a detailed recounting of what specifically was said between them, in February 2025, when he was campaigning for the Liberal leadership, Carney told CBC host Rosemary Barton, “I have been offered positions in the past. I was offered, for example, Prime Minister Harper asked me if I would be his finance minister in 2012.”

Carney said it “wasn’t appropriate to proceed with that. I didn’t.” He said as a central banker, he did not feel it would be right to “go directly from being governor into elected politics.”

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