Meet Mark Carney: the man set to replace Trudeau and win the next Canadian election

The political landscape in Canada has changed a lot since Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party. However, Trudeau is not the only person that’s been driving shifting poll numbers. 

Prior to Trudeau’s resignation, opposition leader Pierre Poilievre and his Conservative Party were set to win a historic majority government according to the polls. But polling has changed and now the Liberals have made a comeback. 

The latest polling data from the Angus Reid Institute found the Liberals would capture 37% of voters in an election while the Conservatives would win 40%. However, this is an outcome only possible with one possible leader: Mark Carney. 

Mark Carney is not a political unknown, Carney is a former Bank of Canada governor and has been tapped by both Conservative and Liberal governments to provide economic assistance in some of Canada’s most troubling monetary times. 

In September 2024, Carney was asked to join the Liberal Party as a special adviser and was set to serve as chair of a task force aimed at promoting economic growth according to CTV News. Carney has been no stranger to the Conservatives, either. 

Carney revealed during an interview with Rosemary Barton that he had previously been asked by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be his Finance Minister according to CBC News. This makes a lot of sense. 

Carney is first and foremost an economist who worked at Goldman Sachs as well as the Department of Finance Canada before he took up a position as the 8th Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013. He helped Ottawa navigate the 2008 global financial crisis. 

If his experience helping to manage Canada’s economy during the worst downturns in world history wasn’t enough, Carney went on to serve as the 120th Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. He helped the UK manage its exit from the European Union. 

When Carney launched his campaign to replace Trudeau as Liberal Party leader, he did so with the pitch that he was well positioned to manage the crisis that Canada is facing: namely, the 25% tariff threat Donald Trump still has looming over the country. 

“I am going to be completely focused on getting our economy back on track,” explained the 59-year-old Carney as he highlighted his past experiences in managing complicated economic issues, according to Financial Post. 

However, Carney may have revived Liberal hopes in the next election, but he still has four other candidates to beat first, including Trudeau’s former protege Chrystia Freeland. What Carney has done could also be a problem for him come election time. 

Those already opposing Carney and looking ahead to a face-off with Poilievre and the Conservatives are billing the former Bank of Canada Governor as an elitist who is too closely tied to Trudeau and too wrapped up in globalism and the climate crisis. 

After leaving the Bank of England he went on to serve as the United Nation’s special envoy for climate action and finance. Carney also was tapped by Trudeau in 2020 to help manage Canada’s economic response to the Covid-19 crisis. 

During a February 15th interview with The Rest is Politics podcast, Carney embraced what many say is his biggest flaw and recognized that he was an elitist, but claimed that he was exactly what Canada needed at this moment. 

“I’m connected and I can deliver for the country,” Carney said according to Todayville. “People will charge me with being elitist or a globalist, to use that term, which is, well, that’s exactly, it happens to be exactly what we need.” 

Another problem Carney could face is his wealth. In August 2023, BBC News reported that Carney had an estimated net worth of roughly $96 billion based on data compiled from Forbes. 

Whether or not a billionaire can win the Liberal leadership and then go on to lead the party to victory over the Conservatives all while not having been elected to a seat in Parliament has yet to be seen, but Carney is certainly changing things up in Canada. 

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