Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney leaves after speaking to reporters at the Liberal caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., on Sept. 10.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press

Timing is everything in politics, and it has never seemed to be Mark Carney’s friend.

In 2012, as the former Bank of Canada governor won international plaudits in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the then-46-year-old was already being touted as the next leader of the federal Liberal Party – the person who would return the flailing Grits to glory.

Those plans fell through when Justin Trudeau threw his hat into the Liberal leadership race. Mr. Carney assessed his odds of winning a leadership contest against Liberal royalty and promptly left for London to become governor of the Bank of England. It was a better gig than being leader of the third party in Canada’s House of Commons, but it distanced him from his eventual goal of becoming prime minister.

Mr. Carney could have become Mr. Trudeau’s finance minister, and heir apparent as leader, when he returned to Canada in 2020 and Bill Morneau quit the government. But he opted instead for a big job at Brookfield Asset Management and sideline work as a global climate-finance guru. Who could blame him? At........

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