Plagiarism Allegations Against Oxford University Cause Strong Criticism – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

Plagiarism Allegations Against Oxford University Cause Strong Criticism – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is currently a strong critic of President Donald Trump, is preparing for the April 28 elections. During this time, allegations have surfaced accusing him of plagiarism from his doctoral thesis titled The Dynamic Advantage of Competition, written in 1995 at Oxford University.

According to a report by National Post, after reviewing Carney's thesis, three experts from Oxford found at least 10 instances where Carney had directly copied from four different sources, slightly altering phrases, rephrasing ideas, and omitting full citations.

Geoffrey Sigalet, a professor at the university who deals with academic misconduct, told National Post, "He rephrased without direct quotes. This is plagiarism."

Carney's campaign responded by providing a statement from his former supervisor at Oxford University, Margaret Mayer, who denied the allegations. She said, "I see no evidence of plagiarism in the thesis. Mark's work was entirely research-based and was approved by a faculty committee."

Oxford University defines plagiarism as "presenting someone else's work or ideas as one's own without proper acknowledgment."

An anonymous professor told National Post that Carney’s thesis could meet the definition of plagiarism. In particular, Carney had copied a passage very closely from Michael E. Porter's 1990 book The Competitive Advantage of Nations, where his sentence was nearly identical: "Firstly, government intervention may hinder international competition and artificially support local gains." This phrase closely matches the original text from Porter's book.

Moreover, Carney had also copied sections from articles by Jeremy C. Stein (1989) and H.S. Shin (1994), with only minor word alterations.

The allegations of plagiarism are evident throughout the entire thesis. Sigalet commented, "It’s not just in one part; it is throughout the entire dissertation."

Oxford University has warned that plagiarism is a serious offense, which can lead to punishments such as expulsion. "Even if you rewrite something, you still have to cite the source properly," Sigalet added.

Carney, who has held high-profile positions including Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and has worked at Goldman Sachs and Brookfield Asset Management, might face significant controversy in Canada if these plagiarism allegations are proven true.