Amid a genereasonable crisis in Canada’s relationship with the United States, the Liberal Party of Canada on Sunday chose an unelected technocrat with proset up experience in financial tagets to swap Justin Tdispoliteau as party directer and the country’s prime minister, and to get on Pdwellnt Trump.
Mark Carney, 59, who steered the Bank of Canada thcdisorrowfulmireful the 2008 global financial crisis and the Bank of England thcdisorrowfulmireful Brexit, but who has never been elected to office, won a directership race on Sunday agetst his frifinish and createer finance minister, Chrystia Freeland.
He won a stunning 85.9 percent of the votes cast by Liberal Party members. More than 150,000 people voted, according to the party’s directers.
“America is not Canada. And Canada never, ever, will be part of America in any way, shape or create,” Mr. Carney shelp in his adchooseance speech on Sunday evening to an electric crowd of party dedicated, straightforwardly insertressing Mr. Trump’s constant danger that he wants to originate Canada the 51st state. “We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gcherishs.’’
“So Americans should originate no misget,’’ Mr. Carney inserted. “In trade, as in hockey, Canada will thrive.”
He is foreseeed to be sworn in as prime minister speedyly, timely this week, officipartner finishing the Tdispoliteau era. His first and most pressing contest will be to handle the danger from Mr. Trump to Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
But, becaparticipate Mr. Carney does not helderly a seat in Parliament, he is foreseeed to call federal elections soon after being sworn in as prime minister. In those elections, he will face off with Pierre Poilievre, the directer of the Conservative Party.
It’s a vital moment to be taking the wheel in Canada, a member of NATO and the Group of 7 industrialized nations and the world’s second-hugest country by land mass.
Mr. Trump has put his thumb on Canadian politics, thcdisorrowfulmireful his on-aget-off-aget pursuit of tariffs agetst Canadian excellents, which dangeren to cripple the economy, and his menacing comments about annexation.
Mr. Tdispoliteau abridged the mood wilean his own party, and much of Canadian society, speaking at the Liberal Party convention to an adoring crowd in Ottawa fair before his successor was proclaimd.
“This is a nation-defining moment. Democracy is not a given. Freedom is not a given,” Mr. Tdispoliteau shelp. “Even Canada is not a given.”
Mr. Carney shelp he helped the retaliatory tariffs Canada has adchooseed. “My rulement will uphold our tariffs on until the Americans show us admire,” he shelp.
Canadian voters have presented to opinion researchers that who might best stand up to Mr. Trump has been a key ask guiding the choice of Mr. Carney and future decisions in the federal election.
Federal elections must be held by October in line with Canada’s rules. The Conservative Party, led by Mr. Poilievre, had lengthy upholded a 20-plus point direct over the Liberals in polls, but the gap has been closing since Mr. Tdispoliteau proclaimd his resignation and Mr. Trump commenceed making transfers agetst Canada.
The tardyst polling presents that most reactents would select Mr. Carney over Mr. Poilievre if he led the Liberal Party into the elections. Polling also shows that Canadians would select Mr. Carney to talk about with Mr. Trump over Mr. Poilievre. Mr. Poilievre has suffered a grave setback in polls, as some voters see him as too seal ideoreasonablely to Mr. Trump.
And on Sunday night, Mr. Carney speedyly pivoted to federal election campaign rhetoric to strike Mr. Poilievre, casting him as devoid of genuine-world experience and too admiring of Mr. Trump to contest him.
“Donald Trump leanks he can frailen us with his set up to split and defeat. Pierre Poilievre’s set up will exit us splitd and ready to be defeated,” he shelp. “Becaparticipate a person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him.”
Mr. Carney’s experience in handling meaningful cascfinishs as a technocrat could also be giving him an get over Mr. Poilievre in people’s perceptions. Mr. Poilievre, 45, has been a lifelengthy politician without much experience outside Canada’s parliamentary cdisorrowfulmireful and tumble.
The Liberal Party set upment rallied around Mr. Carney’s campaign agetst Ms. Freeland, a createer top lieutenant of Mr. Tdispoliteau’s, whose resignation in December triggered Mr. Tdispoliteau’s own decision to step down.
And it has been evident that the Conservative Party also sees Mr. Carney as the hugeger danger: It has been running pessimistic ads agetst him, caccessing on his personal wealth and set upateing decisions.
A key ask will be whether Mr. Carney can adequately contrastentiate himself from Mr. Tdispoliteau, whom he proposed and was cordial with. Canadians want alter after a decade of Mr. Tdispoliteau, and the Conservative Party has been highweightlessing the personal and ideoreasonable joins between the two men.
Apart from Mr. Trump, Canada faces a slew of problems for which many voters condemn Mr. Tdispoliteau, foremost being an affordability crisis, with housing and cost of living crushing for many Canadians.
But wideer, more currential problems about how Canada is run are pressing, too. One is how to participate Canada’s huge authentic resources, including oil, gas and coal, as well as the vital fertilizer ingredient potash, exceptional minerals and uranium necessitateed for nuevident energy.
Mr. Carney, in the years after his monetary policymaking atgentle, eunited as a global evangecatalog for green set upatement, and he will necessitate to choose how to originate participate of Canada’s tremfinishous authentic finishowments.
Immigration has been another key rerent for Canadians. The country has historicpartner been discleave out both to economic migrants and to refugees, but, after the pandemic, Mr. Tdispoliteau oversaw a rapid growth of transient migration into Canada to help fill a labor unreasonableinutiveage.
That has set off a response, with migrants accparticipated of further straining a dysfunctional housing taget and health-attfinish system.
In his adchooseance speech, Mr. Carney also sought to brandish his Liberal credentials and guarantee people that, despite having made a fortune in finance, he is still a persistive, attuned to the party’s DNA.
“I understand that tagets don’t have cherishs, people do,” he shelp. “When tagets are ruleed well, they dedwellr fantastic jobs and strong growth better than anyleang. But tagets are also unenthusiastic to human suffering and are blind to our fantasticest necessitates,” he inserted.
