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Mark Carney Canada US Relations: Mark Carney, who won Canada’s Prime Ministership on Tuesday (April 29), has many firsts to his name. An economist by training, he came to the top job after Justin Trudeau resigned, and has now steered his party, the Liberals, to victory.
When Carney became the unelected PM last month, he was the first Canadian PM to have never held a Cabinet position or even been a lawmaker. He is the first person to have headed the central banks of two G7 economies (Canada and England), and the first non-British person to head the Bank of England.
As Carney takes office as the elected PM this time, here are three things to know about the 60-year-old, who was educated at Harvard and Oxford University.
‘I am most useful in a crisis’
Carney has a long — and largely favourable — record of managing crises. He was heading Bank of Canada when the 2008 global economic crisis hit, and his actions are credited for having helped Canada escape the worst effects. When he was the Governor of the Bank of England, the Brexit referendum happened. While his actions then were not universally applauded, he was seen as a steadying influence.
Carney took over as PM when the Liberal party was facing a crisis of popularity under Trudeau. His reputation of sober efficiency, in the face of a Donald Trump rampage, turned around his party’s fortunes.
“If it’s not a crisis, you wouldn’t be seeing me. I am most useful in a crisis. I am not that good in peacetime,” he had told journalists in February.
Last week, he said, “Unlike Pierre Poilievre [the Conservative candidate], I’ve managed budgets before. I’ve managed economies before. I’ve managed crises before. This is the time for experience, not experiments.”
Response to Trump
Carney has taken a tough stance towards Trump, both in terms of economic policy and rhetoric. Earlier in April, Canada started imposing a 25% tariff on some automobile imports from the US, amid Trump’s wild tariff moves. The Canadian leader said he would not bow down till the US showed Canada respect.
The former banker has said that while Canadians will have to pay more for imports from the US, all the extra money the government earns for this will go towards improving the lives of those hit by the American tariffs.
And to Trump’s repeated calls of Canada becoming the 51st state of the US, Carney once said, “When you think about what’s at stake in these ridiculous, insulting comments of the president, of what we could be, I view this as the sort of Voldemort of comments. Like I will not even repeat it, but you know what I’m talking about.”
India’s ties with Canada had deteriorated under Trudeau, especially after Canada alleged India’s involvement in the killing of a Sikh separatist, Hardeep Nijjar. Under Carney, perceived as pragmatic and economy-focused, the relationship could improve.
“There are opportunities to rebuild relationships with India, there needs to be a shared sense of values around commercial relationships and if I am the prime minister, I look forward to the opportunity to build that,” Carney had said before he succeeded Trudeau.
