Mark Carney launches bid to replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister

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Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, launched his campaign to become Canada’s prime minister touting his financial prowess in a country where voters are angry at outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s economic handover.

Carney He told a crowd in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday that he was making his bid at “extraordinary times” — an apparent reference to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian exports.

Carney, who ran CanadaBefore moving to London in 2013, its central bank said he would make the country’s economy the strongest in the G7, acknowledging that growth was too slow, wages too low and groceries too expensive, under Trudeau, a fellow Liberal.

“I will be incredibly 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, tried to portray himself as an outsider, in contrast to Pierre Poilivre, the conservative leader and career-long politician who has paved the way for the grand leadership. In the national elections.

“I’m not the usual suspect when it comes to politics but this is not the time for politics as usual,” Carney said.

Carney’s announcement ended months of speculation over whether the former central banker would try to replace Trudeau, who announced he was Step down as Liberal leader January 6, after months of partisan infighting and declining poll numbers.

Chrystia Freeland, whose resignation as Trudeau’s finance minister last month triggered a Liberal leadership crisis, is expected to announce her own candidacy. “I will say more soon,” he said has been posted Thursday at X. A person close to Freeland said he could launch his 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 the government and become prime minister.

If Carney wins the March 9 Liberal leadership vote, he will 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 to the federal elections which must be held on or before October 20.

But Trudeau’s Liberal successor as leader could face an immediate no-confidence vote when parliament resumes on March 24, forcing an early election.

The power vacuum in Ottawa comes at a time of heightened US-Canada tensions ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The president-elect has repeatedly mocked Trudeau in recent weeks, describing Canada as the “51st state” of the United States and Trudeau as the “governor.”

Carney has stepped down as chair of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management, a manager of assets with about $1tn under management. He led the Canadian central bank from 2008 to 2013 and the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.

“We are sad to see him go, but he does so to fulfill his deep sense of public service to Canada, and we wish him the best in his new pursuits,” Brookfield chief executive Bruce Flatt said in a statement Thursday.

Carney is Chairman of the Board of Bloomberg and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Carney remains a top adviser to the Trudeau government.

Poilivre attacked the former central banker for supporting Trudeau’s efforts to crack down on Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions with the West’s most aggressive carbon tax — deeply unpopular in oil-rich Alberta, where Carney was raised.

“Carbon tax carney backed NDP-Liberal tax hike on gas, heat and groceries, quadrupling it to $0.61/L. Just. Like Justin,” Poilivre has been posted Thursday at X.