Former central banker Mark Carney is Canada’s new prime minister after being sworn on Friday following the resignation of Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained prime minister until his successor was sworn in. Carney won last weekend’s contest for the prime ministership by a landslide, winning 85.9 per cent of the vote.
“There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy,” Carney said. “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living. He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”
“The president is a successful businessman and deal maker. We’re his largest client in so many industries,” Carney said. “Clients expect respect and working together in a proper commercial way.”
Carney navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis, and then in 2013 when he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England — helping to manage the worst impacts of Brexit in the U.K.
Carney, a former Goldman Sachs executive with no experience in politics, becomes Canada’s 24th prime minister. He said protecting Canadian workers and their families in the face of unjustified trade actions and growing the economy will be his top priorities.
Carney said he will travel to Europe to visit French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the coming days. He received invitations from both.
“We must diversify our trade partners and strengthen our security in so doing,” Carney said.
Trump put 25 per cent tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products April 2. He has threatened economic coercion in his annexation threats and suggested the border is a fictional line.
Carney called the idea “crazy.”
The US trade war and Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games. Some are canceling trips south of the border, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can.
Carney said he’s worked with Trump before at G7 and G20 summits during Trump’s first presidency.
“We share some experiences. I have been in the private sector. I have worked in the real estate sector. I have done large transactions,” Carney said. “We will both be looking out for our countries but he knows, and I know from long experience, that we can find mutual solutions that win for both.”
The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surge.
But after decades of bilateral stability, the vote on Canada’s next leader now is expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with the U.S.
“He will do very well. He’s respected internationally,” former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien told reporters Friday. But, he added: “There is no magic solution. This is not a normal situation. We’ve never seen someone who changes his mind every five minutes as president of the United States.”
A new Cabinet of 13 men and 11 women was sworn in, smaller than Trudeau’s 37-member team. François-Philippe Champagne becomes Canada’s new finance minister, the government’s second most powerful position. Champagne has said a new prime minister offers a chance of a reset with Trump.
Dominic LeBlanc goes from finance to to intergovernmental affairs. Mélanie Joly remains foreign minister. Chrystia Freeland, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister who lost to Carney in the Liberal Party leadership race, becomes minister of transport and internal trade.
Carney met with his Cabinet on Friday afternoon. He strongly suggested he would scrap an unpopular carbon tax enacted by Trudeau by the end of the day. He called his government “Canada’s new government” in an effort to distance himself from Trudeau.
Carney also took aim at opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a career politician who Carney said is always negative.
“Negativity won’t pay the rent or the mortgage. Negativity won’t bring down the price of groceries. Negativity won’t win a trade war,” he said.
Poilievre urged Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth mandate, saying it’s the same Liberal government and that Carney is “just like Justin.”
Carney is 59. He was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, on March 16, 1965, and raised in Edmonton, Alberta.
Credentials
Carney ran the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. After helping Canada manage the worst impacts of the 2008 financial crisis, he was recruited to become the first non-Brit to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.
In 2020, he began serving as the United Nations’ special envoy for climate action and finance.
Carney is a former Goldman Sachs executive. He worked for 13 years in London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto, before being appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Canada in 2003. He has no experience in politics.
Education
Carney received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University in 1988, and master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Oxford University. Like many Canadians, he played ice hockey, serving as a backup goalie for Harvard.
Citizenship
Carney has Canadian, UK and Irish citizenship. He has moved to eventually have solely Canadian citizenship, which is not required by law but seen as politically wise.
Polls
His chances of remaining prime minister for more than a few weeks seem to be improving. In a mid-January poll by Nanos, the Liberals trailed the opposition Conservatives and their leader Pierre Poilievre 47 per cent to 20 per cent. Earlier this month, the polls had Liberals at 35 per cent and the Conservatives at 36 per cent.
Carney navigated crises when he was the head of Canada’s central bank and when he became the first non-citizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.
His appointment won bipartisan praise in Britain after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.
Carney is credited with keeping money flowing through the Canadian economy by acting quickly in cutting interest rates to their lowest level ever of 1 per cent, working with bankers to sustain lending through the crisis and, critically, letting the public know rates would remain low so they would keep borrowing.
And it wasn’t just that he had good policies — he sold them to the public in a way everyone could understand. He was the first central banker to commit to keep them at a historic low for a definite time, a step the US Federal Reserve would follow.
What’s next for Canada?
The Liberal Party members picked a new leader in a secret vote by about 140,000 members last Sunday. The new leader is expected to trigger an election shortly afterward. Either the new Liberal party leader will call one, or the opposition parties in Parliament could force one with a no-confidence vote this month.
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said Carney’s calm demeanor and outstanding resume make him a reassuring figure to many Canadians at a time when Trump is going after their country’s economy and sovereignty.
Béland said that style and profile stands in strong contrast to the Conservative Party’s Pierre Poilievre, whom he called a true career politician who has embraced a populist rhetoric not unlike Trump’s. (AP)