Canada: Mark Carney takes oath, replaces Justin Trudeau as 24th Prime Minister
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Replacing highly unpopular Justin Trudeau, Mark Carney, 59, took oath as Canada’s 24th Prime Minister on Friday, the media reported.
In his first news conference as the new PM, Carney said there has been “progress” in discussions with US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has been at loggerheads on a variety of issues with its northern neighbour.
Carney is a former central banker who has come to power in the middle of an explosive trade war with the US. He was voted overwhelmingly five days ago to replace Trudeau.
Canada has been fighting against the Trump administration since the new US President took oath on January 20. Their hostilities have resulted in each country imposing reciprocal tariffs on tens of billions of dollars worth of the other’s exports.
“I respect what he is looking to accomplish,” Carney said of Trump, according to the media reports.
“We’ll both be looking out for our countries…He knows and I know from long experience that we can find mutual solutions that win for both.”
Carney appointed a cabinet that was smaller than Trudeau’s and will have a shorter lifespan, as an election is expected soon. He tapped Francois-Philippe Champagne to be his finance minister and moved Dominic LeBlanc to international trade, while keeping Melanie Joly as his foreign minister and David McGuinty as public safety minister.
“Canada’s new government will be action-oriented, driven by a smaller but highly experienced team made to meet the moment we are in,” PM Carney said.
“First, protecting Canadian workers and their families in the face of unjustified foreign trade actions. And second, growing this great country by putting more money in Canadians’ pockets.”
The ex-Goldman Sachs banker’s rise to Canada’s top office is remarkable for several reasons. He is the first Canadian PM to get the top job without ever having held a seat in the House of Commons or Senate, except for the country’s very first PM in 1867, John A. Macdonald, who was appointed shortly before its first election.
Carney also assumes the role at the most difficult moment in Canada-US relations in recent history. Trump has threatened to use “economic force” to try to turn Canada into the US’ 51st state and has already imposed steep tariffs on many Canadian goods, with Canada retaliating in kind.
Their escalating trade tensions have already hampered business and consumer spending plans. Additional tariffs, expected in April, may plunge Canada into a recession this year.
Carney said he does not have immediate plans to travel to the US, but looks forward to speaking with Trump at the “appropriate moment.” He said he met the US President during the latter’s first term in office at Group of Seven and Group of 20 meetings.
Regarding Trump’s claims that Canada should join the US — for which Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday the President has an economic argument — Carney said: “It’s crazy.”
“Before we get to the economics of it, we won’t be part of it. And when we get to the economics, and the President is a successful businessperson and dealmaker — we’re his largest client in so many industries,” Carney asserted.
“And clients expect respect, and working together in a proper commercial way. So, the nature of Canada means we won’t, the economics means we shouldn’t even consider a union with the US,” he said.
Carney has touted his credentials as someone who has led Canadian economy in uncertain times before. During his first year as Bank of Canada Governor, the global financial system was seized by a full-blown crisis. He slashed interest rates to almost zero. As Bank of England Governor, he also helped steer the UK economy during the Brexit turmoil.
Despite a resume that spans two G-7 central banks and major investment firms, Carney is a political novice, who said Canada could expect news on an election “in the coming days” so that he can seek a strong mandate for his government.
His new cabinet met Friday afternoon. Cutting its size from 37 ministers to just 24, he moved Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to a “Canadian culture and identity” portfolio, replaced Immigration Minister Marc Miller with Rachel Bendayan and promoted Indian-origin leader Anita Anand to industry minister.
Carney’s rival in the Liberal leadership race, former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, will take over Anand’s previous role of transport and internal trade minister. Jonathan Wilkinson will remain energy minister.
Among his first actions as PM, Carney scrapped the consumer carbon tax — Trudeau’s signature climate policy that became politically untenable as post-pandemic inflation soared since 2020. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blamed the tax for making life less affordable.
A parliamentary election this year will see Carney face off against Poilievre, an astute career politician whose party has lost its huge lead in opinion polls in recent weeks. Carney may hope to ride a recent surge in support for the incumbent Liberals whose leader Trudeau has been running a minority government for a few months.
Carney’s swearing-in ushers out the Trudeau era, which was marked by expansive social programs that improved some measures of equality, but also saw economic growth lag the country’s peers on a per-capita basis.
Poilievre took aim at Carney’s decision to keep many of Trudeau’s cabinet ministers, accusing them of being the same politicians who “voted to hike the carbon tax, double the debt, double food bank lineups and double housing costs.”
“Carney thinks Canadians are stupid, that a little bit of cosmetic surgery will allow the Liberals to disguise who they are and make people forget what they did for 10 years,” Poilievre told reporters.
Carney plans to travel to France and the UK early next week, a signal that he believes his government needs to shore up relationships with major European countries that are also targets of Trump’s trade war. He is also preparing a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian President’s office said.
