Carney met with former prime minister Harper on day of throne speech: sources

During a visit to Ottawa to watch the King deliver the speech from the throne, former prime minister Stephen Harper met privately with Prime Minister Mark Carney, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the meeting, with spokesperson Audrey Champoux saying they "had nothing further to say." CBC News reached out to Harper for comment via his consulting firm, Harper & Associates, but did not immediately receive a response.

Though it's unclear what they discussed, the two men have a long shared history that was highlighted repeatedly during the federal election campaign.

Carney was the governor of the Bank of Canada from February 2008 to June 2013, while Harper was serving as prime minister. Both played a role in steering the country's economy through the 2008 financial crisis.  

During the federal election, Harper endorsed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who served as a cabinet minister in his government.

Harper appeared in Conservative ads in the latter part of the campaign, and also wrote a fundraising letter taking aim at Carney's role in managing the recession.

"I have listened, with increasing disbelief, to Mark Carney's attempts to take credit for things he had little or nothing to do with back then," wrote Harper in a letter used for Conservative fundraising. 

He said Carney was not involved in the "day-to-day management" of Canada's economy during the global recession and was undermining the work of former finance minister Jim Flaherty.

Flaherty died of a heart attack in 2014, weeks after retiring from Harper's cabinet. 

The current prime minister painted a rosier portrait of his relationship with Harper.

In an interview with CBC's chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton during the Liberal leadership race, Carney said he had been offered other political positions before deciding to run.

"For example, Prime Minister Harper asked me if I would be his finance minister in 2012," Carney said.

He said he declined the offer because he felt it "wasn't appropriate." He said it didn't feel right to "go directly from being governor into elective politics."

A Harper-era communications director said in February that Carney was "not telling the whole story."

Harper was also seen engaging with another former prime minister, his former political rival Justin Trudeau, at Tuesday's speech from the throne. They were photographed in conversation, exchanging jokes and laughs.