Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney was front-page news in the Financial Times yesterday, which reported he will receive a £250,000 housing allowance on top of his £624,000 salary. 

Oh,look! There’s Mark Carney too.@FinancialTimes: Front page of the Financial Times UK Thursday, December 20 http://pic.twitter.com/pzJx67M7 #cdnpolipenny collenette

Mark Carney’s salary of £874000 a year defended by Bank of England – The Finance Pages: The Fina… http://bit.ly/XOhVWk #Business #NewsTeen Business

The housing allowance is also front-page news in the Guardian today:

Mark Carney on the front page of the Guardian http://bit.ly/NOmlc2 “Laughing all the way to the Bank”Norman Spector

Here at home, the soon-to-be-former BofC governor earned column space this morning for his appearance at a party of Ottawa journalists on Wednesday evening. “Mark Carney wandered into the lion’s den last night and hoisted a beer or two with a few dozen members of the Press Gallery,” iPolitics reports. (No word on who bought the beer.)

The outing was also chronicled by David Akin of Sun Media: 

My file on our pub-crawling Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney http://bit.ly/UOX7gv #cdnpoliDavid Akin

Writes Akin: “Many journalists at the pub Wednesday, most without notebooks, tape recorders and other tools of their trade, seemed surprised and confused by Carney’s presence — which he said was on a “social basis” on his own private time, the same excuse he used to explain his vacation at Brison’s Nova Scotia home.”

And this: “While at the pub, Carney had his picture snapped by a journalist for the Parliament Hill newspaper, beer in hand, chatting with Human Resources Minister Diane Finley and her husband, Senator Doug Finley, the former national Conservative campaign manager and one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s closest confidantes.”

Carney confirms friendly journo’s speculation http://bit.ly/12zw4uZ that other parties tried to recruit him http://bit.ly/SYfZONNorman Spector

Colin Horgan of iPolitics, who was at the party, writes this today:  
“What better way to register your displeasure about some negative press than face-to-face with the press gallery? Go have a drink, gladhand a bit, and hope it all rubs off the right way. And, in the future, maybe everyone will think twice before writing something negative about you. For all his assurances that he does not want to get into politics, he’s awfully good at being a politician.”

Still with iPolitics and still on the man of the hour, columnist Lawrence Martin asks: “What’s a guy supposed to do if he is in a sensitive post but, at the same time, has to start thinking about his future and his next post?”

Mark Carney’s only mistake was not lying | iPolitics http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/12/19/mark-carneys-only-mistake-was-not-lying/James Baxter

The answer, according to Martin: “The mistake he made was in not being categorical in saying he had no interest in the Liberal position — even though he did in fact have some interest and may again in the future. In other words, the big mistake Mark Carney made was that he chose not to lie.”

Jason Fekete of Postmedia News reports today on the challenges faced by senior officials in a government town. Fekete’s story has the Bank of Canada insisting that Carney did not contemplate jumping into politics. 

To me, this is new and surprising: "…the Bank of Canada insists Carney… did not contemplate jumping into politics."http://bit.ly/U0okfPJohn Geddes

So that’s the Carney file for this morning. And here’s the last word — for now:

Mark Carney descends on unarmed journalists, who resort to semiotics but are nonetheless slaughtered and eaten. http://bit.ly/R6NjREDan Gardner

Breaking News: Unconfirmed reports are surfacing that Mark Carney was seen last night in Ottawa pubs with the Ikea monkey.Robert McClelland

Breaking News: Unconfirmed reports are surfacing that a golden eagle has snatched Mark Carney from a park in Montreal.Robert McClelland

One lesson I’ve learned from the Carney Affair is tht Ottawa is a *very* small town.Stephen Gordon