Unlock Editor’s Roundup for free
Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, launched his campaign to become Canada’s prime minister by touting his financial expertise in a country where voters remain angry over outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handover of the economy.
Carney told a crowd in Edmonton, Alberta, on Thursday that he was making his bid during “extraordinary times” – an apparent reference to US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian exports .
Carney, who also headed Canada’s central bank before moving to London in 2013, said he would make the country’s economy the strongest in the G7, acknowledging that growth had been too slow, wages too low and goods very expensive groceries under Trudeau, a fellow Liberal.
“I will be extremely focused on getting our economy back on track,” Carney said in the western Canadian province. “I’m here to ask for your support, I’m here to lead that fight.”
The liberal contender, who was most recently a New York-based executive at alternative asset manager Brookfield, sought to portray himself as an outsider, in contrast to Pierre Poilievre, the conservative leader and career politician who has opened a great advantage. in national polls.
“I’m not the usual suspect when it comes to politics, but this is no time for politics as usual,” Carney said.
Carney’s announcement ends months of speculation about whether the former central banker will try to replace Trudeau, who announced he would step down as Liberal leader on Jan. 6 after months of party infighting and falling poll numbers.
Chrystia Freeland, whose resignation as Trudeau’s finance minister last month sparked the Liberal leadership crisis, is expected to announce her candidacy. “I’ll have more to say soon,” she posted on X on Thursday. A person close to Freeland said she could launch her campaign in Toronto on Sunday.
Canada’s parliamentary system means that, as in the UK, the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons has the right to form a government and become prime minister.
If Carney wins the Liberal leadership vote on March 9, he would become Canada’s next prime minister despite not being an elected official — unlike Freeland and Trudeau, he is not a Canadian MP. He will then lead the party into the federal election due on or before October 20.
But Trudeau’s Liberal successor as leader could face an immediate vote of no confidence when parliament resumes on March 24, forcing an early election.
The power vacuum in Ottawa comes at a time of US-Canada tensions ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The president-elect has repeatedly threatened Trudeau in recent weeks, describing Canada as the US’s “51st state” and Trudeau as its “governor.”
Carney resigned as chairman of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management, an asset manager with nearly $1 trillion under management. He headed the Canadian central bank from 2008 to 2013 and the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.
“We are sorry to see him go, but he does so to fulfill his deep sense of public service to Canada and we wish him all the best in his new pursuit,” it said in a statement Thursday Brookfield chief executive Bruce Flatt.
Carney is also chairman of the board of Bloomberg and the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Carney has remained a senior adviser to the Trudeau government.
Poilievre has attacked the former central banker for backing Trudeau’s efforts to hit Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions with one of the most aggressive carbon taxes in the west — which has been deeply unpopular in oil-rich Alberta, where he grew up. Carney.
“Carney carbon tax backed NDP-Liberal tax hike on gas, heating and groceries, QUADRUPING it to $0.61/L. Only. like. Justin,” Poilievre posted on X on Thursday.
