Ex-central bank governor of both Canada and the UK, Mark Carney, has succeeded long-term Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after winning 86% of votes on Sunday to become the new leader of the progressive Liberal Party.
Unsurprisingly given his track record, Carney has framed economic policy as central to his leadership.
He has promoted Canada’s competitiveness in a low-carbon economy, and he seems willing to take the fight to Trump not only on trade but also on defence.
Taking it to Trump
The betting is that the highly qualified former central bank governor and Goldman Sachs alumni is a safe pair of hands to lead Canada in the face of Donald Trump’s threats to annex the US’s closest ally and his recent actions to hobble it with tariffs.
The party had been eyeing Carney as a potential leader for years, and he played an active role as an advisor to Trudeau on the country’s post COVID-19 economic recovery.
The 59-year-old, who has never run for elected office before, will take his party into the federal election later this year at a time when the geopolitical stakes are high.
Strong economic experience
Carney has impeccable finance chops, having graduated from Harvard and completed postgraduate studies at Oxford.
He worked for Goldman Sachs for 13 years before joining the Bank of Canada in 2003.
He steered Canada through the global financial crisis as governor of the Bank of Canada for five key years between 2008 and 2013.
As if that wasn’t enough, he then became governor of the Bank of England until 2020, a tumultuous time for that country, which was in the throes of exiting the European Union during his tenure.
Climate advocacy
Along with his record on economics, Carney is a strong believer in the clean energy economy and has been an advocate for action on climate change in his role as UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance in 2019.
Carney has pushed for financial institutions to support net-zero emissions and has been vocal in proposing shifts in the carbon tax burden from consumers to corporations.
During his time at the UN he said in an interview:
“The dialogue has shifted from viewing climate change as a risk, to seeing the opportunity, and really translating that into a single objective, which is to move our economies to net zero as quickly as possible.
“That’s a tremendously exciting development because what we have now in private finance is a focus on a clear goal – net zero – and finding the opportunities to advance that and to be rewarded by it.
“Private finance is judging which companies are part of the solution, but private finance, too, is increasingly being judged.
“Banks, pension funds and asset managers have to show where they are in the transition to net zero. And people are voting with their money. That is creating the type of investment that we’re going to need to get to net zero.”
Fiery rhetoric out of the gate
Carney takes the helm as Canada faces a burgeoning trade war with Trump’s US, but he has come out of the gate as a steadfast defender of his country, supporting retaliatory tariffs against the US measures.
"There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy," Carney said.
"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."
Carney went on to say that the retaliatory tariffs would stay until the Americans showed Canada some respect.
On being annexed by Trump’s US, Carney said America was “not Canada” and that “Canada will never, ever will be a part of America in any way, shape or form."
In the current climate, this sounds like an election-winning message.