Who benefits when Mark Carney takes a hit over a whitewashed Asian face on a $100 bill?
Something smells about this widely reported story involving the image on the Bank of Canada's new $100 bill.
And that's the timing.
Most of us know the tale by now. An enterprising Canadian Press journalist, Dean Beeby, wrote an exposé about focus groups conducted by the Bank of Canada in 2009.
Some participants expressed concerns about the "Asian" appearance of the female scientist on the note, which went into circulation in November.
The Bank of Canada responded by whitewashing the image. And nearly a year later, the story bursts onto the front pages during the slowest news period of the year. That triggers outrage, particularly among Canadians of colour, and Carney is forced to apologize.
Beeby is an acknowledged expert in filing freedom-of-information requests, so it's quite likely he came up with all of this on his own.
But it's equally possible he was tipped off to making a request for the results of the focus group.
Let's hypothesize for a moment that the latter point is true. Let's go further and guess that this suggestion came from someone who knew how explosive this information could be—provided it was released at the right time of year when it would receive maximum publicity.
Then it becomes a whodunit. Who would want to embarrass Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney? To date, he has been the Teflon man of the international financial world.
Consider this new dimension, which might have provided a motive. Not very long ago, Global TV and the Toronto Star's Chantal Hebert were trotting out his name as a possible future leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Carney's background with Goldman Sachs has won him the confidence of the moneyed set. He extended an olive branch to progressives when he called the Occupy protests "entirely constructive".
Carney has also become something of a rock star in international financial circles, chairing the G20's Financial Stability Board and rumoured to be in line to become governor of the Bank of England.
He's 47 years old. Exactly the right age the Liberals would like in a leader. He's more mature and accomplished than Justin Trudeau. Yet Carney's young and dynamic enough to make the Conservatives' Stephen Harper and the NDP's Thomas Mulcair look like they're from a previous generation.
Some members of the Bank of Canada's board of directors may have heard about the focus group results. It's conceivable that one or more of them could have shared this information with a Conservative politician.
Suddenly, the information about the focus group goes public, and Carney becomes damaged goods—on a certain level—with progressives who feel it's time that a person of colour finally appeared on one of our bank notes.
After all, if we can feature a guy who locked up the Japanese Canadians during the Second World War— Mackenzie King—surely we can offset that with an image of someone of Asian descent.
I'm not saying that there was a political hit ordered on Mark Carney because there's no conclusive proof. But I also don't think we should discount the possibility—especially given the way the Conservatives have gone after previous leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada.
I can't wait to read the comments from Stephen Harper supporters who will accuse me of being some sort of crackpot for coming up with this perfectly reasonable hypothesis. I've been in this business long enough to know that news often doesn't happen by accident.
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
Comments
18 Comments
Moebius Stripper
Aug 21, 2012 at 4:13pm
It being the slowest news period of the year, Charlie Smith should have plenty of time to investigate his "perfectly reasonable hypothesis", thereby possibly generating an actual news story, as opposed to a conspiracy theory.
DavidH
Aug 21, 2012 at 4:25pm
Well, as a long-time Stephen Harper OPPONENT would it be okay if I accused you of being "some sort of crackpot" for coming up with a completely absurd hypothesis?
I've read more sensible arguments about the existence of Sasquatch.
My lord ... lay off the cocktails.
Charlie Smith
Aug 21, 2012 at 4:33pm
DavidH,
You can call me "some sort of crackpot". I wonder what Michael Ignatieff and Stéphane Dion would think of this scenario.
Charlie Smith
DavidH
Aug 21, 2012 at 4:40pm
@ Charlie Smith: You invited people to call you a crackpot. I accepted your invitation, in this instance. Be careful what you wish for.
Moebius Stripper
Aug 21, 2012 at 6:57pm
"I wonder what Michael Ignatieff and St
Mark Fornataro
Aug 21, 2012 at 8:51pm
Lest we forget robocalls and the nasty Cons. attack ads. Anyone who thinks Charlie needs a reality check on his hypothesis here needs a reality check of their own. The Con. opposition to the Liberals are more than capable of doing what Charlie suggests is possible and to not be on the look-out for such pranks is to not learn from both recent and distant history.
Tedd Alcuitas
Aug 21, 2012 at 10:11pm
Despite trivializing this issue as some sort of conspiracy, we should not be sidetracked by frivolous arguments.
This issue is significant in that it brings to the surface the endemic racism that exists in our institutions.
The decision to change the image is no accident - it was racist pure and simple!
Let us not forget that Canada has always and still is, struggling to rid itself of this insidious attitude.
The residential school policy to ‘erase the Indian in the child’, the Japanese internment, Komagata Maru and even the Live-in Caregiver Program which is indentured slavery are just a few reminders that we have a long way to fight racism.
The media more than anything else, is the greatest purveyor of these attitudes and practices.
The Vancouver Sun for example, which is now 100 years old as well as other mainstream media including perhaps The Georgia Straight, is still ‘as white as the paper it is printed on.’
Why would TV reporters not able to find for example, an ‘ethnic’ person to get a comment on a breaking issue?
Invariably the microphone is often thrust to a ‘white’ person walking in the streets of Vancouver where more than half of the population is of ‘ethnic’ origin.
We in the so-called minority community should be vigilant in pointing out lapses in our institutions and hasten the day when all of us can live harmoniously with each other despite our colour or origins.
Charlie Smith
Aug 21, 2012 at 10:29pm
Hi Ted,
I disagree with your suggestion that the Georgia Straight is still as white as the paper it's printed on. We have several editorial employees of Asian descent in a relatively small newsroom, including your good friend Carlito.
A conversation you had with me many years ago is the reason why I first contacted him, so you played an important role in him getting hired.
On the matter of the Bank of Canada, Craig Takeuchi wrote a very good article about this situation involving the $100 bill.
http://www.straight.com/article-759426/vancouver/bank-canada-whitewashes...
I wrote a separate article on the Chinese Canadian National Council's reaction to the apology:
http://www.straight.com/article-759806/vancouver/chinese-canadian-nation...
I agree with the final two paragraphs in your comment. In light of this, I've included a link below, which you might enjoy reading. (It's a transcript of a speech I gave at the launch of a book by one of our contributors, Gurpreet Singh):
http://www.straight.com/article-738426/vancouver/canadas-white-supremaci...
Charlie Smith
Taxpayers R Us
Aug 22, 2012 at 6:17am
AFAIK the bill was trying to symbolize the work that was created by Caucasian male scientist (insulin).
First mistake - it was a woman on the bill. No real problem with that, there are many amazingly talented and super-educated women in science today discovering and developing amazing things, but insulin wasn't one of them.
Second problem - it was an Asian woman depicted on the bill. Insulin was not created by an Asian woman.
I understand the concept of embracing positive change etc., but you can't fuck with history to satisfy feminism and proactive racism.
100 years from now that same bill will reflect what Asian women may have contributed to this country, but unlike this attempt, that will be based on fact, unlike this PC BS.
scathie
Aug 22, 2012 at 7:33am
So you think that Carney wants to move into politics? I have to say, I don't see it. The guy's a civil servant. If you leave investment banking and take a thousand percent pay cut to go work as a bureaucrat, you're generally not doing it because you're interested in power or money.