Carney ‘considering’ entering race to replace Canada’s Trudeau

Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney says he is “considering” entering the race to replace Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Trudeau said on Monday he would resign after nine years as Canadian prime minister, following mounting pressure from his own party and poor opinion polls.

Carney, 59, is one of several names in the frame to replace Trudeau, along with his former vice president Chrystia Freeland and Transportation Minister Anita Anand.

Trudeau says he will remain in office until a new leader is elected. Meanwhile, the Canadian parliament has been prorogued – or suspended – until March 24.

The Liberals will likely try to have a new leader at the end of the extension period, although the timeline and procedure remains unclear. Trudeau has promised a “competitive, robust, nationwide process.”

Carney, who runs an asset management company and has worked as an adviser to Trudeau, told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper: “I will consider this decision closely with my family over the coming days.”

He has long been considered a candidate for the highest office, although he has never held public office despite his financial situation.

During his career as a central banker (at the Bank of Canada from 2007 to 2013 and then at the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020), Carney influenced the response of two major economies to the global financial crisis.

He also led efforts to support the UK economy during its exit from the European Union and the Covid-19 outbreak.

Whoever succeeds Trudeau in Canada could face an immediate test. The country is due to hold its next federal election in October, but it is considered likely that a vote will be called before then. The opposition Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre, currently enjoys a double-digit lead in opinion polls.

Trudeau himself recently admitted that he had been trying to recruit Carney to his team for a long time, most recently as finance minister. “He would be an outstanding addition at a time when Canadians need good people to advance politics,” he said last year.

Carney would also bring expertise on environmental issues through his role as a United Nations special envoy for climate action, recently calling the net zero emissions goal “the biggest business opportunity of our time.”

He is an advocate of some Liberal policies that have been unpopular within the country’s conservative circles, such as the federal carbon tax policy, the party’s signature climate policy that critics say is a financial burden on Canadians.

He has also criticized Poilievre, saying the conservative leader’s vision for the country’s future “has no plan” and is “just slogans.”

Other candidates believed to be credible replacements for Trudeau include his former deputy Chrystia Freeland, who resigned from the cabinet after a rift with the prime minister’s office in December, and Transportation Minister Anita Anand, a lawyer who was elected in 2019.