Who is Mark Carney, Canada’s new Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader?

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.

Here is what to know about Mark Carney.

1. 01

   ECONOMIST OF IRISH ORIGIN

   Mark Carney was born in 1965 to Irish-origin educator parents in Canada’s Northwest Territories, and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta.

   He obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics with high honours at Harvard University in 1988. He then studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, completing his master’s and doctoral degrees in 1993 and 1995. It was here that he met his wife, British economist Diana Fox.

   He worked for 13 years at Goldman Sachs, with stints at the company’s offices in London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto.

   In addition to being a Canadian citizen, Carney holds citizenships from the UK and Ireland. However, he has begun the process of renouncing both of these now that he is the Prime Minister.

2. 02

   A SEASONED CRISIS MANAGER

   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.

3. 03

   CLIMATE CHANGE ADVOCATE

   Carney has long advocated for environmental sustainability and awareness of climate change. He was appointed the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change in 2019.

   In 2015, he delivered the speech, “Breaking the Tragedy of the Horizon” to Lloyd’s investment bank. Criticising politicians for their short-sighted approach to climate crises, he warned that climate change could adversely impact global finances and living standards.

   “The challenges currently posed by climate change pale in significance compared with what might come,” he said. “The far-sighted amongst you are anticipating broader global impacts on property, migration and political stability, as well as food and water security. So why isn’t more being done to address it?”

   After leaving the Bank of England, he served as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s advisor for climate finance in the run-up to the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021. He was tasked with “mobilising ambitious action from across the financial system needed to help achieve the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement”, according to a press release from the Bank of England.

   However, one of his first moves as Prime Minister may be to cut a contested pollution tax from 2018, which he had personally championed. A report by The Guardian hailed the carbon tax as a positive measure that offered quarterly rebates to taxpayers. However, Conservative politicians, led by PM hopeful Pierre Poilievre, have sought to link this with the larger Canadian affordability crisis, and popularised the slogan of “axe the tax”.

4. 04

   PRIVATE SECTOR AFFILIATIONS

   Carney joined Brookfield Asset Management in 2020, a global investment firm focused on achieving climate goals. However, Conservative politicians have focused their criticism on his link to the company, which in November 2024 relocated its headquarters from Toronto to New York.

   Also under scrutiny are Carney’s continued links to several private firms, with a report from Canada’s National Post claiming he had not resigned from many corporate boards he serves on.

5. 05

   PUSH FOR DEDOLLARISATION

   As Bank of England governor in 2019, Carney supported a push to reduce the dependence by global banks on the US dollar as a reserve currency, saying it could be replaced by the Chinese renminbi or a global digital alternative backed by a large group of nations. This, in turn, “could dampen the domineering influence of the US dollar on global trade”, he said in his address to a group of global central bankers in Wyoming.

   He also argued that in doing so, US economic shocks would be less felt across the world through exchange rates.

   If Carney pushes for a similar effort as Prime Minister, he will likely run afoul of Trump.

   In response to reports of BRICS mooting a new currency as an alternative to the US dollar, Trump wrote, “We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar, or they will face 100 per cent tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy”. He has since doubled down on this rhetoric, saying "BRICS is dead" and threatening 100 per cent tariffs on the bloc.

What next for Canada?

Carney’s election has effected a “Lazarus-like” revival in the Liberal camp, according to The Economist.

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.

In recent months, the Conservative party led by Pierre Poilievre, had made major electoral gains and was poised to cakewalk to victory. However, Carney’s victory on Sunday may have well upended that, and could result in an unprecedented third term for the Liberal party.