Canada’s ruling Liberal party has elected Mark Carney as its new leader and therefore prime minister, setting up a face-off between the former central banker and US President Donald Trump.
On Sunday afternoon the Liberal party announced Carney had won the contest to replace Justin Trudeau, who stepped down as leader in January after months of party infighting and poor polling.
However, celebrations for Carney and his team in Ottawa will be shortlived as Canada faces a trade war with its southern neighbour. Trump has threatened to levy broad tariffs on Canada’s exports and taunted that the country should become the 51st state of the US.
In the end the race was not close. Carney won with 131,674 votes, 86 per cent, ahead of Trudeau’s former finance minister Chrystia Freeland with 11,134.
Carney said the party would pursue fiscal responsibility and social justice while striving to unite Canada. “My pledge to you and all Canadians is to build a stronger Canada for everyone,” he said.
Carney said his government will find new trading relationships with “reliable partners” and immediately eliminate the “divisive carbon tax” and capital gains tax. “My government will keep the tariffs on until the Americans show us respect,” he said.
Carney is expected to immediately replace Trudeau, who was at the Liberal party event on Sunday.
During the campaign Carney indicated he would call an election shortly after winning the top spot to secure a mandate from the Canadian people to tackle Trump’s tariffs battle.
“Carney has an international profile and an undeniable gravitas when it comes to dealing with economic matters, though he has no electoral experience,” said Dimitry Anastakis, a professor in the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
President Trump’s regular attacks on Canada — threatening to annex it and place tariffs on its timber, dairy and steel — has reinvigorated a Liberal party that was facing a near-certain election defeat.
Carney said on Sunday that Canada would “never, ever be part of America in any way”.
“We must build a new economy and new trading relations,” he added.
Trudeau took the stage to prolonged applause. He said Canadians faced “an existential challenge from our neighbours”, referring to Trump’s attacks and tariff threats.
“We’re a country that is diplomatic when we can, but fight when we must.”
Carney campaigned that he was a veteran of crisis management best suited to manage Trump’s hostilities, emphasising his time as Canada’s central bank governor during the 2008 global financial crisis, then Britain’s central bank governor throughout Brexit.
Polls show the Liberal party with Carney at the helm has narrowed the Conservatives’ lead ahead of this year’s election.
“Two months ago, being Liberal leader was like a dead-end job,” said David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, an Ottawa-based polling company.
“Thanks to Trump, Mark Carney will emerge as the next PM with almost a coin toss chance of doing the unthinkable, leading the Liberals to their fourth straight election victory,” he said.
For several years the Conservative party and opposition leader Pierre Poilievre were expected to easily win a majority government at the next election. But Trump, and Carney as Canada’s prime minister, have altered that trajectory.
On Wednesday an Angus Reid Institute poll reported 43 per cent of Canadians thought Carney was best to face off against Trump, compared to 34 per cent who chose Poilievre.
Carney, a 59-year-old father of four daughters, has pledged to “build the strongest economy in the G7” and to “reform government and the tax system” with new incentives to build and invest.
Rumours of Carney’s interest in becoming prime minister intensified late last year as Trudeau’s government floundered in the polls over its policies on immigration, the cost of living and housing affordability.
Carney recently resigned as chair of Brookfield Asset Management that has close to $1tn in assets under management. He has also been chair of the board of Bloomberg and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance and spent over a decade at Goldman Sachs.
He vowed to cut all his corporate ties and put his significant asset portfolios in a trust if he became prime minister.
Trudeau’s exit comes at a time of renewed Canadian patriotism and unity due to Trump’s regular attacks and tariff threats.
Angus Reid Institute said on Friday their polling showed Trudeau will be remembered for marijuana legalisation, his successful Covid-19 response and the expansion of the social safety net through the Canada child benefit and dental care.
“On the other end of the spectrum, they view immigration policy, handling of the inflation/cost of living crisis, and the federal carbon tax, as the biggest failures,” it states.