Mark Carney has been elected as the leader of Canada's Liberal party and will be Canada's next Prime Minister until the upcoming federal election, which is slated to be held later this year.
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in January, the party began the process of searching for a new leader. Four candidates stepped up and made it past financial deadlines and party approval: former MP and businessman Frank Baylis, Burlington MP and Liberal House Leader Karina Gould, University-Rosedale MP and former deputy Prime Minister Christyia Freeland and the former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, Mark Carney.
Carney took a massive victory on the party's first ballot, earning 131,674 of the 151,899 votes cast by Liberal members. The party bases the vote on a number of points where each riding in the country is worth 100 points, regardless of the number of voting members. Carney received 85.9 per cent of those points.
In his victory speech, Canada's Prime Minister-designate said he wants to build a stronger Canada and took swings at U.S. President Donald Trump over tariff and annexation threats.
"There's someone who's trying to weaken our economy: Donald Trump," he said. "He's attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed, and we won't. I am proud of the response of Canadians who are making their voices heard and their wallets felt."
Carney said he's proud of the work of the premiers across the country to respond to tariffs, which Trump has been threatening, placing, retracting and threatening again since taking office in January. But Carney won't be taking tariffs off of goods imported from the United States immediately.
"My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect," he said. "We didn't ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. So the Americans, they should make no mistake, in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win."
He said all of the proceeds of Canadian tariffs will be used to protect Canadian workers.
"The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country," Carney said. "If they succeeded they would destroy our way of life. In America healthcare is a big business, in Canada, it is a right. America is a melting pot, Canada is a mosaic."
He said he will work to strengthen the economy and emphasized he'd built relationships with reliable trading partners.
Carney also said he'll be scrapping two taxes put in place by the Liberal government that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been attacking the party, and Trudeau, on.
"I'm a pragmatist above all so when I see something that's not working, I will change it. So my government will immediately eliminate the divisive consumer carbon tax on families, on farmers and small and medium-sized businesses," he said. "And we will stop the hike in the capital gains tax because we think builders should be incentivized for taking risks and rewarded when they succeed."
The new Liberal leader took swings at Poilievre as well, calling him "a lifelong politician who worships at the altar of the free market despite having never made a payroll himself."
He criticized the Conservative leader for refusing to get parliamentary security clearance to be briefed on classified information, for saying he will defund the CBC and Carney said the Conservatives value ideology over leadership.
"Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer. Pierre Poilievre's plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered," he said. "A person who worships at the alter of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him."
Carney went on to say private sectors are incredibly powerful and can deliver results, but he added that if markets aren't governed well they are blind to peoples' needs and deliver more wealth to the richest people at the cost of everyone else.
"I know these are dark days. Dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust. We are getting over the shock but let us never forget the lessons: we have to look after ourselves and we have to look out for each other."
Carney has a large resume. He was governor of two G7 government's financial institutions, is one of the top 30 bankers in the world and played hockey for both Harvard and Oxford universities.
"I feel like everything in my life has prepared me for this moment. Two months ago I put up my hand to run for leader because I felt we needed big changes. Big changes guided by strong, Canadian values," he said. From being the son of two teachers to lessons he learned at the hockey rink, Carney said everything he learned brought him to lead the Liberal party of Canada.
Carney was born in Fort Smith Northwest Territories and grew up in Edmonton. He earned a scholarship to Harvard where he studied economics before earning a master's degree and a doctorate in economics from Oxford University.
During the 2008 economic crisis Carney was the governor of the Bank of Canada. In that role he led Canada's monetary policy and financial system throughout the global recession. In 2013 he became the first non-British person to lead the Bank of England, while he warned against the U.K. leaving the European Union in Brexit, he ran the country's monetary policy through that turbulent time.
He served as Bank of England's governor until 2020 when he joined one of the largest investment management companies in the world: Brookfield Asset Management. He led the firm's investments in environment, social and governance fund. In 2023 he was selected to serve as chair of Bloomberg L.P.'s board of directors.
Carney will be the first Prime Minister of Canada without a seat in parliament since John Turner in 1984. His landslide victory in the leadership was a larger win than Trudeau's leadership win in 2013.
A date for Carney's swearing in as Prime Minister has not yet been announced. The 2025 election must take place by October 20.
