Canada has a fighting, Harvard-educated economist as its new prime minister. Sunday Mark Carney, 59, was overwhelmingly elected leader with 86 percent of the vote of the governing Liberal Party.
He succeeds outgoing PM Justin Trudeau and will lead the suddenly resurgent Liberals in an expected spring election. The party winning the most seats in the House of Commons forms the government.
Meanwhile, Carney will be sworn in by the Governor General, King Charles’ titular representative in Ottawa, later this week. He may take office on a day that Trump slaps a steep tariff on softwood lumber imports and Canadian dairy products.
Carney came out swinging at Donald Trump and his tariffs, and linked opposition Conservative Party leader Pieter Polievre — often called the Trump of the north — to the American President.
The upcoming election looks like a brawl in what is generally a politically low-key country. “Poilievre’s plan will leave Canada divided and ready to be conquered,” Carney said in his acceptance speech. “Poilievre would rather kneel before him [Trump] than stand up to him.”
A point well taken: Poilievre made a pilgrimmage to Mar a Lago after last November’s U.S. election. But Polievre shot back, “Carney made the United States richer and stronger,” noting that the incoming PM worked 12 years in the U.S. at Goldman Sachs.
Born in the Northwest Territories and raised in Edmonton Alberta— a Conservative bastion — and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Carney has been an economic firefighter on both sides of the Atlantic. He guided Canada through the Great Recession as Governor of the Bank of Canada. He steered the Bank of England through the turmoil of Brexit.
He will face a chaos creator in tariff-champion Trump, who boasts he wants to make Canada the 51st U.S. state. Trump is serious about using economic warfare on Canada. The new American President has even cast an eye on cross-boundary waters and the Columbia River Treaty, which harnesses the Northwest’s master stream to power regional homes and economy.
Carney was ready with a sports analogy. “We didn’t ask for this fight but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves in trade, as in hockey,” he declared. “Canada will win.”
Carney will have another tussle with Polievre and Trump, both climate skeptics. He served as United Nations special envoy on climate action. He roasted the Conservative leader, saying: “Pierre Poilievre would let our planet burn. That’s not leadership. It’s ideology.”
Carney has never run for public office, bringing no baggage with him. “Two months ago I made up my mind to run for leader because I felt we needed big changes guided by strong Canadian values,” said he. As he doesn’t currently have a seat in parliament, he’ll have to run in the election he’s expected to call.
The election will be close, and will likely mirror voting patterns in the US. The Liberals are strong in Canada’s cities, the Conservatives in small towns and rural areas. Quebec and Atlantic provinces are Liberal land while Conservatives dominate the Prairies. The keys to the outcome are populous Ontario and British Columbia, trade battlegrounds near the border. Swing seats in the House of Commons are found in suburbs and exurbs of Toronto and Vancouver.
