Former Canadian central bank governor Mark Carney became the clear favorite to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party when he announced his candidacy on Thursday.
The 59-year-old economist, who attended Harvard and Oxford, launched his campaign at a hockey arena in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.
“I’m doing this because Canada is the best country in the world, but it still could be even better,” Carney told a crowd of supporters.
He promised to put the Canadian economy “back on track” and defeat Donald Trump’s tariff threat, positioning himself as an outsider and an unusual politician with robust economic skills.
Carney is anticipated to face up against his friend, Chrystia Freeland, a former deputy prime minister who is set to declare her intention to run for leadership on Sunday.
After arguing with her boss about how to react to Trump’s threat of imposing 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, Freeland abruptly resigned in December, sparking a political crisis that led to Trudeau’s announcement last week that he was also leaving.
Whoever takes the helm will inevitably become prime minister and inherit a party that trails Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives by 20 points in the polls. As early as March, they might also have to deal with early elections.
Carney, a relative unknown to the majority of Canadians, launched an onslaught against Poilievre on Thursday, accusing him of proposing “bad ideas, naive and dangerous ideas.”
However, the former UN special envoy on climate change admitted that not all Canadians have benefited from the country’s climate policies, including the carbon fee that Poilievre wants to abolish.
Meanwhile, in a recent appearance on “The Daily Show” Carney playfully pushed back at Trump’s unlikely plan for Canada to become the 51st US state, telling host Jon Stewart: “We’re not moving in with you.”
“We can be friends,” he added. “Friends with benefits.”
Stewart responded that he felt like Carney was breaking up with him during the interview.
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