Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney enters race to be Canada’s next prime minister
Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney enters race to be Canada’s next prime minister
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Mark Carney, the first non-Brit to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694 and the former head of Canada’s central bank, said Thursday he is entering the race to be Canada’s next prime minister following the resignation of Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau will remain prime minister until a new Liberal Party leader is chosen on March 9.
Carney, 59, is a highly educated economist with Wall Street experience, widely credited with helping Canada dodge the worst of the 2008 crisis while heading the country’s central bank. He also helped the United Kingdom manage Brexit during his 7-year tenure as governor of the Bank of England.
“The prime minister and his team let their attention on the economy wander too often,” Carney said of Trudeau, speaking in Edmonton, Alberta. “I won’t lose focus.”
The front-runners for the Liberal Party leadership are Carney and ex-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose abrupt resignation last month forced Trudeau’s exit.
The next Liberal leader could be the shortest-tenured prime minister in the country’s history. All three opposition parties have vowed to bring down the Liberals’ minority government in a no-confidence vote after parliament resumes on March 24. An election is expected this spring.
Carney said he knows the Liberals are “well behind,” but said he would win the general election.
Trudeau announced his resignation on Jan. 6 after facing an increasing loss of support both within his party and in the country.
Carney quickly launched into an attack on opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who the polls show has a large lead over the Liberals.
He also highlighted the threats by President-elect Donald Trump, who has said Canada should become the 51st state and has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods.
“This is no time for life-long politicians such as Pierre Poilievre,” he said. “Sending Pierre Poilievre to negotiate with Donald Trump is the worst possible idea.”
Poilievre painted Trudeau, Carney and Freeland with the same brush during a news conference in Vancouver earlier Thursday.
The opposition Conservative party was ready for Carney’s announcement, releasing a new digital ad branding him as “carbon tax Carney” just hours before he spoke — a reference to his history of supporting carbon pricing policies.
“Mark Carney is back from Europe to continue what Justin Trudeau started,” the ad said, arguing he would behave just like Prime Minister Trudeau in government.
A major plank in Poilievre’s campaign has been removing the carbon tax, introduced by the Trudeau government as a fee on the amount of carbon emitted by fuels like gas.
Carney said if the carbon tax is removed, it should be replaced by something that is “at least if not more effective” in having the same impact of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while making Canadian companies more competitive and creating jobs.
An official close to Freeland said she would scrap the consumer carbon tax and instead make big polluters pay. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of her announcement.
When Carney, who grew up in Edmonton, was named the first foreigner to serve as governor of the Bank of England it won bipartisan praise in Britain.
“I have helped manage multiple crises and I have helped save two economies,” Carney said. “I know how business works, and I know how to make it work for you.”
More recently, Carney served as the U.N.’s special envoy for climate change and led an alliance of international financial institutions pushing for carbon-cutting measures. He has long championed the notion that making companies accountable for their impact on the planet is the first step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
When Carney led Canada’s central bank he was credited with keeping money flowing through the economy by acting quickly in cutting interest rates to their lowest level ever of 1%, working with Canadian bankers to sustain lending through the crisis and, critically, letting the public know rates would remain low so they would keep borrowing.
He was the first central banker to commit to keep them at a historic-low level for a definite time, a step 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 both financial industry and government credentials.
He has long been interested in entering politics and becoming prime minister but lacked political experience. The Liberal Party has tried to recruit him for years.
“Being a politician is quite different from being a policy adviser or a central banker,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at Montreal’s McGill University.
By ROB GILLIES and JIM MORRIS
Associated Press
