VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Mark Carney, the first non-Briton to head the Bank of England since its founding in 1694 and former head of Canada’s central bank, said Thursday he is entering the race to be become the next Prime Minister of Canada. following the resignation of Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau will remain prime minister until a new Liberal Party leader is chosen on March 9.
“The prime minister and his team have too often left their focus on the economy,” Carney, 59, said in Edmonton, Alberta, where he made his announcement. “I won’t lose my focus.”
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Carney quickly launched into an attack on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who polls show has a wide lead over the Liberals.
He also highlighted threats from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who said Canada should become the 51st state and threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods.
“Now is not the time for long-time politicians like Pierre Poilievre,” he said. “Sending Pierre Poilievre to negotiate with Donald Trump is the worst possible idea. »
The favorites for the Liberal leadership are Carney and former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose abrupt resignation last month forced Trudeau’s departure.
The next Liberal leader could be the shortest-serving prime minister in the country’s history. The three opposition parties have pledged to overthrow the Liberal minority government in a vote of no confidence after Parliament resumes on March 24.
Trudeau announced his resignation on January 6 after facing a growing loss of support both within his party and the country.
Carney said Trudeau and the ruling Liberals “too often let their focus drift away from the economy” and that government needs to return to center.
“We cannot realize our full potential with the ideas of the far left,” he said. “They too often see government as the solution to all problems, with a reflex to spend and subsidize. This only treats the symptoms of the problem, but does not cure the disease. »
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said the fact that Carney is not part of the Liberal government has both advantages and disadvantages.
“Not being a Liberal minister or MP would allow him to distance himself much more easily from some of the more unpopular aspects of the Trudeau government’s legacy,” Béland said. “Yet the flip side is that he has never held elected office before. Being a politician is very different from being a political advisor or a central banker.”
Poilievre lumped Trudeau, Carney and Freeland together during a news conference in Vancouver earlier Thursday.
He blamed the Liberals for high taxes and criticized the government for suggesting it could impose tariffs on energy exports to the United States, saying it would hurt the oil-rich province of l Alberta.
“Not only have the Liberals weakened our economy, but they are now seeking to divide our people,” Poilievre said. “We don’t need to be divided; we must be united.
A major plank of Poilievre’s campaign was the removal of the carbon tax, introduced by the Liberal government as a tax on the amount of carbon emitted by fuels like gasoline.
Carney said that if the carbon tax was eliminated, it should be replaced with something that would be “at least if not more effective” and have the same impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while making Canadian businesses more competitive and creating jobs.
An official close to Freeland said she would eliminate the consumer carbon tax and instead make big polluters pay.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly before his announcement, said Freeland would not fight the Canadians on a policy they have made clear they did not support. The official added that Freeland would work with the provinces to develop a plan.
Carney, who was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories and raised in Edmonton, is a highly educated economist with experience on Wall Street who is widely credited with helping Canada avoid the worst of the financial crisis. 2008 and for helping the United Kingdom manage Brexit.
“I helped manage several crises and helped save two economies,” Carney said. “I know how business works and I know how to make it work for you.”
Most recently, he served as UN special envoy for climate change and led an alliance of international financial institutions pushing for measures to reduce carbon emissions. Carney has long championed the idea that holding companies accountable for their impact on the planet is the first step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2012, he was appointed the first foreigner to serve as governor of the Bank of England since its creation. The appointment was welcomed by both parties in Britain after he served as head of Canada’s central bank and after Canada recovered more quickly than many other countries from the 2008 financial crisis.
Carney is credited with keeping money flowing through the Canadian economy by acting quickly to reduce interest rates to their lowest ever level of 1%, working with Canadian bankers to keep loans flowing during the crisis and, above all, by letting the public know that rates would remain low so they would continue to borrow. He was the first central banker to commit to keeping them at a historically low level for a defined period of time, a move the U.S. Federal Reserve would follow.
Like other central bankers, Carney is a former Goldman Sachs executive. He worked for 13 years in London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto, before being appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada in 2003. He has qualifications in both the financial sector and government.
He has long wanted to enter politics and become prime minister, but lacks political experience. The Liberal Party has been trying to recruit him for years.
Trudeau, the son of one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, has become deeply unpopular with voters over a range of issues, including soaring food and housing costs as well as high immigration.
