Trump critic Mark Carney poised to replace Trudeau as Canada's prime minister

 

Carney recently called President Trump a 'bully' over tariffs plan, and compared him to the evil Harry Potter wizard Voldemort

OTTAWA – Mark Carney has never served in elected office, but for years has been spoken of as a potential future leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and if the polls hold true, he is the odds-on favourite to capture his party's leadership contest on Sunday.

Carney, who was once governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and now an executive at Goldman Sachs, is likely to secure the election to replace Justin Trudeau as both the 14th Liberal leader and the 24th Canadian prime minister by the party's close to 400,000 members.

Carney recently condemned President Donald Trump as a "bully" in a statement he issued reacting to American tariffs imposed on the northern neighbor. "Canada will not be pushed around by a bully. We won't stand idly by while unfair U.S. tariffs harm our workers and their families. As Canadians, we must meet this challenge as one united team."

Canada's CBC reported Carney likened Trump to Harry Potter's Voldemort in response to the president's remarks about making Canada the 51st state.

"When you consider what is at stake in these absurd, insulting remarks of the president, of what we might be, I consider this the kind of Voldemort of remarks… Like I will not even say it, but you know what I am referring to."

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Mark Carney speaks at the Sustainable Finance conference, Nov. 28, 2024. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

More than half of the Liberals’ 153-member caucus in the House of Commons has endorsed him for leader over former Cabinet ministers Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould, as well as past member of Parliament (MP) Frank Baylis – all three of whom served in Trudeau’s government.

On the fundraising front, Carney has received the most in campaign donations with $1.3 million – or over twice that raised by last month's newcomer Freeland, a former foreign affairs minister.

Surveys also indicated that Carney is the favorite to be the next Liberal leader. If he retains that position and becomes Canadian prime minister by default as the successor to Trudeau, he would contribute to restoring his party's fortunes at the polls.

A March 5 Angus Reid Institute survey discovered that a Liberal Party led by Carney trailed the official opposition Conservative Party by only three points, at 40% to 37%.

A Leger poll, released on March 3, showed a slightly greater margin, with the Conservatives at 41% and the Liberals, led by Carney, at 33%.

But the same recent Angus Reid survey also determined that 43% of Canadians think Carney would be most capable, as prime minister, to handle Trump, versus Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, at 34%.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during a "Spike the Hike – Axe the Tax" rally on March 27, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Even Poilievre has conceded that he will be running against the Liberal frontrunner in the next general election, routinely referring to him as "Carbon Tax Carney," referencing the Canadian government's consumer tax on carbon emissions that Carney originally endorsed. As a candidate for the leadership, the former central bank governor vowed to replace it with an incentive program that pays Canadians for "making greener choices," such as buying an energy-efficient appliance.

In an open letter on Jan. 26 to Carney, Poilievre questioned him as to whether he would be "any different than the man you are trying to replace" and pledge to "ban any previous Trudeau minister from serving in your Cabinet" or "continue the same Trudeau agenda?"

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Norman Spector, chief of staff to former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, sees Carney's political-rookie status as being an asset as prime minister when dealing with the White House.

"He comes in without baggage with Trump, and I believe that's incredibly, incredibly significant," said Spector. He recommended that Carney sit down with the president as soon as possible to talk about places where Canada and the U.S. can work closely together, including on continental security.

Mark Carney officially announced his bid for the Liberal Party leadership at Laurier Heights Community League in Edmonton, Canada, on Jan. 16, 2025. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Carney should not look like "Justin Trudeau in another wardrobe or with another resume," John Manley, the previous Canadian Liberal deputy prime minister and finance minister, said to Fox News Digital.

"He's got to be a candidate for change and be perceived as the serious guy who can go up against Donald Trump," while adding that the ballot-box issue in Canada has changed from Trudeau's unpopularity in Canada to Trump.

No longer a member of Canada's Liberal Party, Manley stated that Carney has "promised to move the party back toward the center and make the economy his focus, and those would both be welcome."

Last Wednesday, Carney stated he would eliminate domestic trade barriers between the 10 provinces and three territories that would open up the Canadian economy by as much as $140 billion.

The same day, Trudeau and the territorial and provincial premiers all concurred to do precisely the same as a measure aimed at curtailing dependence on America's trade, in response to the tariffs issued by the Trump administration on Canada.

The Liberals "have got to stop concerning themselves with identity politics," which is only "significant to a small clique of people," said Manley.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves as he leaves the offices of Salesforce on Feb. 8, 2018, in San Francisco. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

"We can't go on waging cultural wars. It damaged the Democrats terribly in the U.S."

He added Carney must immediately summon a general election ahead of Parliament sitting again on March 24.

If he's elected Liberal leader on Sunday, Carney would also become automatically prime minister-designate because the Liberals form the government under Trudeau.

The official transition date when Carney is to take office has not yet been set, but he would be the first Canadian prime minister who has never served in an elected position and would have to win a seat in the House of Commons. Thus, the necessity for a national election is also personal as it would allow Carney to stand in an as-yet-undetermined riding (district) to be elected to the Parliament.

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Manley, who contested the Canadian Liberal leadership in 2003 and lost to former prime minister Paul Martin, said Carney will require fresh faces in his Cabinet.

He also believes Carney – a Harvard and Oxford universities graduate with a doctorate in economics – has an edge over Poilievre in the next election.

Raised in Canada's Northwest Territories, 59-year-old Carney also spent decades at Goldman Sachs, where he also worked as the United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance.

Canada's Liberals vote on a new leader on Sunday. (iStock)

Conversely, 45-year-old Poilievre has "done nothing but politics for his adult life," Manley said.

The leader of the opposition was elected to the Conservative MP for an Ottawa riding in 2004 at the age of 24.

But Manley added, "Poilievre is a very effective communicator," and Carney must "prove that he can relate to the ordinary man on the street."