Excellent. I'm glad that's been clarified, Chair, and I welcome back the members who have returned to us for the purposes of quorum.
A few years ago, I read Mr. Carney's book, Value(s), because I was curious to know what he had to say. It was interesting. It probably reflects themes that the current Prime Minister would associate with himself as well, but it was expressed in a somewhat more sophisticated tone than maybe we hear from the current occupant of that position.
I do think it's an interesting read. I disagree with a lot of it, aside from the speculation about current politics and leadership positioning and specific issues that are raised by the specific measures in the budget. I would be interested in having the opportunity to engage Mr. Carney in a discussion about his thesis more broadly.
I do notice that generally, in the aftermath of the publication of that book, he gravitated towards softball-type interviews where people said, “Oh, you've written this long book. Isn't this phenomenal? Not everyone can put that many words in a row. Tell us how it felt. Where can people buy the book?” and so forth. This is the quality of journalism that you get when you subsidize it with the public purse.
However, I think there are interesting ideas in the book that should be substantially debated because they perhaps entail unseen or at least less obvious problems. He has seemed to shy away from hard-hitting debate or challenge in relation to his ideas. I think this committee, frankly, would provide that opportunity. I'm not going to promise that we will assume the same softball tone that he has experienced in certain other fora, but it will be an opportunity to have substantive debate around around those ideas.
I pulled up a Guardian article here that summarizes the book. I'm not sure if the proper way to say it is “value” or “values” because, in the title of the book, he has the “s” inside brackets, which is, I think, intended to demonstrate the question of what is a value and what are values at the same time. It is a legitimate sort of literary device, although it makes it somewhat ambiguous to know how the title should be read out. Anyway, there's a review I found in The Guardian when I was just reflecting on what I was going to say about his ideas that is a bit fawning, sadly, but I will nonetheless read it because it does at least give you that perspective. I'll read parts of it anyway. If it's too fawning, I may just have to stop.
The Guardian editorial describing the book says the following—