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Canada’s ruling liberal party has elected Mark Carney as its new leader and therefore prime minister, setting a showdown between former Central Banker and US President Donald Trump.
On Sunday afternoon, the Liberal Party announced that Carney had won the competition to replace Justin Trudeau, who withdrew as leader in January after months of party war and poor voting.
However, the celebrations for Carney and his team in Otava will be shortened as Canada faces a trade war with its southern neighbor. Trump has threatened to impose extensive tariffs on Canada’s imports and has haunted that the country should become the 51st state of SH.BA
Carney is expected to replace Trudeau immediately, who was at the Liberal Party event on Sunday.
During the Carney campaign he indicated that he would call a choice shortly after winning the first place to secure a mandate from the Canadian people to handle Trump’s battle.
“Carney has an international profile and an undeniable gravitas when it comes to dealing with economic issues, although it has no electoral experience,” said Dimitry Anastakis, a professor at the Rotman School at the University of Toronto.
Carney, a graduate of the University of Oxford who holds passports in the United Kingdom, Irish and Canadian, defeated former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland who was seen as his main rival in the race.
President Trump’s regular attacks on Canada-threatening to annex it and impose tariffs in raw materials, milk and its steel-has revived a liberal party facing a loss of almost secure elections.
Trudeau caught the scene on Sunday in prolonged applause. He said the Canadians faced “an existential challenge from our neighbors”, referring to President Trump’s tariff attacks and threats.
“We are a country that is diplomatic when we can, but we fight when we need it.”
Carney campaigned that he was a most appropriate crisis management veteran to manage Trump’s hostilities, highlighting his time as governor of the Central Bank of Canada during the 2008 global financial crisis, then the governor of the Britain Central Bank across Brexit.
Surveys show that the Liberal Party with Carney at the top has narrowed the advantage of the Conservatives ahead of this year’s elections.
“Two months ago, being a liberal leader was like a finished job,” said David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, a Voting company based in Otava.
“Thanks to Trump, Mark Carney will come out as the other prime minister with almost a chance of throwing currency to make them unimaginable, bringing the liberals to their fourth direct election victory,” he said.
For several years, the Conservative Party and opposition leader Pierre Poilievre was expected to easily win a majority government in the upcoming elections. But Trump, and Carney as the Prime Minister of Canada, have changed that trajectory.
On Wednesday a survey by the Angus Reid Institute reported 43 percent of Canadians thought Carney was best to face Trump, compared to the 34 percent chose poilievre.
Carney, a 59-year-old father of four daughters, has pledged to “build the strongest economy in G7” and “reform the government and tax system” with new incentives to build and invest.
Rumors of Carney’s interest in becoming prime minister intensified at the end of last year as the Trudeau government clashed on its policies on immigration, cost of living and affordability of housing.
Carney recently resigned as chairman of Brookfield Asset Management having near $ 1Tn in assets under management. He has also been chairman of the Bloomberg Board and the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance and has been in Goldman Sachs for over a decade.
He pledged to cut all his corporate ties and to put his important portfolios of wealth in a belief if he became prime minister.
Trudeau’s emergence comes in a time of patriotism and Canadian unity renewed due to Trump’s regular attacks and tariff threats.
Angus Reid Institute said on Friday, their survey showed that Trudeau would be remembered for legalization of marijuana, his successful Covid-19 response and expanding the social security network through the benefit of children in Canada and dental care.
“On the other side of the spectrum, they see immigration policy, the treatment of inflation/cost of the living crisis and the federal carbon tax, as the greatest failures,” it said.
