Former central banker Mark Carney on Sunday (March 9) won the leadership election for Canada’s Liberal Party, with 86 percent of the vote. He will now take over as Canada’s Prime Minister, following Justin Trudeau’s resignation in January.
Carney’s ascent comes at a trying time for Canada as it battles an unprecedented trade war with its longtime ally and neighbour, the United States. Under President Donald Trump, the US has imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened to annex Canada as the “51st state” of the US. In his victory speech, Carney acknowledged US actions and said, “The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country. If they succeed, they will destroy our way of life.”
The former governor of the central banks of Canada and England vowed to uphold the retaliatory C$30 billion worth of tariffs instituted by Trudeau on American imports to Canada, until “the Americans show us some respect”. Carney’s election also marks the first time a political outsider has become the Canadian Prime Minister.
Carney served as the governor of the Bank of Canada in 2008 and was commended for his handling of the global financial crisis that unfolded that year.
He opted to cut interest rates in the country by 50 basis points to nearly zero and maintained these at record-low levels. He also created new emergency loan facilities.
According to a Bloomberg report, Carney helped the country weather the crisis without needing to bail out its banks. This was supported by Canada’s concentrated financial system and risk-averseness to bank supervision.
In 2011, he was appointed the Chair of the Financial Stability Board, an international body set up by G20 nations after the crisis, to review and offer recommendations about the global financial system.
He became the Governor of the Bank of England in 2013, making him the first non-British person to do so. He steered the British economy through Brexit, all the while cautioning against leaving the European Union. He remained in the post until 2020.
He has used these experiences to posit himself as Canada’s best representative to take on the mercurial Trump.
After 10 years with Justin Trudeau at the helm, the party’s popularity plummeted amid widespread discontent about the increase in unemployment and inflation, as well as a housing crisis. Calls for Trudeau to step down were heightened over the last year with party backbenchers petitioning for his resignation last October, and the exit of the New Democratic Party from the minority coalition government a month earlier.
The next parliamentary election must be held by October 2025, but this will likely be called sooner.
Carney vows to rebuild relationship with India
The relations between India and Canada came under severe strain following then PM Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Mark Carney, the new Prime Minister of Canada, has expressed his intention to rebuild relationships with India. Carney had said that he will “rebuild” relations with “trading partner” India if voted to power. He also emphasises the need to diversify Canada’s trading relationships, particularly with like-minded countries.
