Canada's Liberal Party Chooses Mark Carney To Replace Trudeau As Next PM

Mark Carney, former Bank of England Governor, has been elected Prime Minister of Canada with 86% of votes, replacing Justin Trudeau.

File photo of Mark Carney

Source : Twitter - MarkJCarney

Former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has emerged victorious in the race to replace Justin Trudeau as the Prime Minister of Canada.

The 59-year-old Carney secured a lion's share of 86% of votes to beat former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in a contest in which just under 152,000 party members voted.

The announcement comes after Trudeau's resignation. Liberal Party President Sachit Mehra announced Carney's victory in the Liberal leadership race.

Carney has extensive experience in economic management and global finance and, is expected to bring a new prespective to the country's leadership.

In January, Trudeau announced that he would step down after being in power for about a decade. His approval rating fell sharply, prompting the ruling Liberal Party to hold a contest to replace him.

Amid the ongoing trade war with the US, the new Canadian Prime Minister said that “America is not Canada.” In his victory speech Carney said, “America is a melting pot. Canada is a mosaic.” In his message to Trump, he said that Americans “want our resources, water, our land, our country. Think about it. If they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life.”

Carney attacked Trump, who has imposed tariffs on Canada and said he wants to make the country the 51st US state. He said, "Americans should make no mistake." "In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win."

“There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy,” Carney said, as reported by AP. “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.” He added, "Canada will keep retaliatory tariffs in place until the Americans show us respect.”

Carney has also pledged to 'secure the borders', a key demand of Trump who has accused Canada of failing to control the flow of migrants and fentanyl.

Carney has become the first outsider without a political background to become Canada’s prime minister. Earlier, he touted his experience as the first person to serve as the governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and argued that this makes him best suited to handle negotiations with Trump.  

During his campaign, Carney supported a policy of dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs against the US and a coordinated strategy to boost investment. He has been critical of Canada's economic growth under Trudeau, stating it has not been strong enough, Reuters reported. 

Who is Mark Carney?

Carney was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, in 1965. He attended Harvard before spending over a decade at Goldman Sachs.

In 2003, he joined the Bank of Canada as deputy governor. In 2013, Carney became the first non-British governor of the Bank of England.