Ottawa, Canada:
Canada’s Liberals overwhelmingly elected Mark Carney as the country’s next prime minister effortlessly took a provocative stance against U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat on Sunday.
According to final statistics, Carney, 59, won 85.9% of the vote.
Carney will take over as outgoing party prime minister Justin Trudeau in the coming days, but he may not have had a long job.
Canada must hold elections by October, but Carney will likely conduct a quick poll in a few weeks. Current polls make opposition conservatives a minor favorite.
In a victory speech to party supporters, Carney warned that the Trump-led U.S. attempted to seize control of Canada, which he said must be defeated.
After announcing the results, Carney told a lively crown in Ottawa: “Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country, our country.”
Trump is “attacking Canadian workers, families and businesses. We can’t make him successful.”
Carney, who previously led Bank of Canada and Bank of England, defeated his main challenger, former deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, who held several senior cabinet positions in the free government, which was first elected in 2015.
Since participating in the Freedom Leadership Competition, Carney has insisted that he is the best candidate to defend Canada from Trump’s attacks.
The U.S. president has repeatedly spoken of annexing Canada and throwing bilateral trade (the lifeblood of the Canadian economy) into chaos in a dazzling tariff action, turning in all directions since he took office.
Trudeau said goodbye to partisan supporters in Ottawa Hall before announcing his successor, “Canadians face the survival challenges of our neighbors.”
“The worst crisis”
At the party meeting, Carney’s supporter Lozminda Longkines told AFP that Trump repeatedly pondered that the 51st country in Canada “a blessing in disguise.”
“We are so united … we have a common enemy,” the 71-year-old said before announcing the results.
Greg MacEachern declined to say who he supports, and he agreed that the party will stand out from the vote and keep a close eye on Trump.
“It’s been a serious period and I think people are in this leadership competition very, very seriously,” MacEachern said in a hockey jersey.
Carney argued that he was the ideal counterattack of Trump’s interruption, reminding voters that he led Canadian banks through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and guided the Bank of England through the turmoil following the 2016 Brexit vote.
Data released by Angus Reid’s voting company on Wednesday showed Canadians view Carney as a favorite option to confront Trump, which may have allowed liberals to raise opposition conservatives.
43% of respondents said they trust Carney most to deal with Trump, and 34% support Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
The Liberals are heading for elections ahead of Trudeau’s announcement of plans to resign in January, but the game has been greatly exacerbated by changes in leadership and Trump’s influence.
“I think we were written off about four months ago and now we should go back where we should go,” former Congressman Frank Baylis also ran for leadership, he said in Ottawa.
Not a politician?
Carney entered the Canadian civil service and worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.
Since leaving the Bank of England in 2020, he has served as the UN Special Envoy, aiming to enable the private sector to invest in climate-friendly technologies and hold positions in the private sector.
He never served in Parliament nor held an elected public office.
Analysts say his untested campaign skills could prove responsibility for a Conservative party who has held an attack on ads, accusing Carney of shifting his position and misrepresenting his experience.
The 59-year-old portrayed himself as a new voice not bound by Trudeau, who said he didn’t pay enough attention to building Canada’s economy.
In the next few days, Trudeau and Carney will visit Canada’s Governor Mary Simon – the official representative of King Charles III in Canada – they will send leaders to form the government.
(The story has not been edited by NDTV staff except for the title and published from the joint feed.)
