Canadian Politics: Who is Mark Carney?
The Oasis Reporters
March 11, 2025
By FP
Canada’s Liberal Party elected former central banker Mark Carney on Sunday to become the country’s next prime minister.
Securing a landslide 85.9 percent of the vote, Carney will replace outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the coming days, ushering in a new era of Canadian politics at a time when Ottawa is facing one of its biggest geopolitical tests in decades.
“This is a nation-defining moment,” Trudeau said on Sunday in a farewell speech. “Democracy is not a given. Freedom is not a given. Even Canada is not a given.”
Carney, 59, has a difficult task ahead of him. He must lead a NATO country that is only one of two members not to meet either of the alliance’s defense spending targets.
He must guide upcoming G-7 foreign minister talks, which will begin in Quebec on Wednesday. And he must address high costs of living and immigration rates that rose under Trudeau’s decade-long leadership.
But his top priority remains centered on one country—and one person. “There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy,” Carney said.
“[U.S. President] 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.”
Last week, Trump postponed 25 percent duties on many Canadian and Mexican goods for one month amid fears of a wider trade war.
But threats to steel, aluminum, dairy, and other products remain. Trump has also repeatedly called for Canada to become America’s 51st state and referred to Trudeau as “governor.”
Carney said on Sunday that he will keep retaliatory tariffs on the United States in place until “the Americans show us respect,” saying Ottawa “can no longer trust” Washington.
Carney is known for his economic prowess.
In 2008, he steered the Bank of Canada through the global financial crisis, and in 2013, he became the first non-Briton to run the Bank of England, leading the United Kingdom through Brexit. His latest posting was as a United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance.
Trump’s aggressive policies have triggered a surge in Canadian nationalism that Carney is hoping to capitalize on. Experts expect Carney to swiftly call federal elections, where he will face off against Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.
Under Trudeau, the Conservative Party maintained a 20-plus-point lead over the Liberals. But Carney’s election and Trump’s policies toward Canada appear to be closing the gap. New polls show steady Liberal gains, and according to the latest survey from Ipsos, some respondents worry that Poilievre is too ideologically close to the far-right U.S. president.
Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered because a person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him,” Carney said on Sunday.
“The Americans, they should make no mistake; in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.”
Foreign Policy.
