A banker to lead Canada: Who is Justin Trudeau's successor?

BarcelonaA banker with no political experience, but who has headed two central banks, Canada and England, has been chosen to replace Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada. It will be that man, Mark Carney, who will now have to negotiate with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, in the open trade war between the two countries. At least until the early elections are held, which he himself is expected to call at the end of the month. After more than nine years in power, Trudeau is leaving office by his own decision and passing the baton to a outsider politics, at one of the most turbulent times in international politics.

Carney, 59, was elected this Sunday as the new leader of the Liberal Party, and therefore the new prime minister, after Trudeau announced on January 6 that he was stepping down because he felt he had lost the trust of Canadians., with popularity ratings at rock bottom. The party's 400,000 members voted until 3 p.m. on Sunday and almost four hours later the name of the winner was announced. Trudeau's successor has a difficult task ahead of him, with the sword of Damocles hanging over him. of the 25% tariffs that the US president has announced for Canadian products –although they are temporarily suspended again for the moment– and by Trump's own threat –this one more unrealistic– to annex Canada as the 51st state of the United States. In this sense, Carney has promised to "win" the trade war against Trump. "The Americans should make no mistake: in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win," he told his supporters.

"The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country... if they succeed, they will destroy our way of life," Carney said in his acceptance speech. The new prime minister has wagered during the campaign to establish reciprocal tariffs on those imposed by the United States, and on Sunday night he reinforced this: "My government will maintain our tariffs until the Americans show us respect."

Carney does not have a seat in Parliament, but, even so, he can legally serve as prime minister. However, the opposition could now force a vote of confidence in Parliament against his minority government and force early elections. That is why Carney is expected to decide to call them directly. In fact, according to the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail, Carney intends to call an election before Parliament reconvenes later this March. This would mean that elections could be held on April 28 or May 5. Polls say that neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives would be able to form a majority government.

Justin Trudeau is saying goodbye to the Canadian government, which he has led since 2015, although he himself has said that he will remain in office until the handover with his successor is completed and that the length of this transitional period will be determined by his successor. However, the new prime minister will have to face, in an early election, the Conservatives, who are growing in the polls under the leadership ofa radical figure, that of Pierre Poilievre, who has the approval of Elon Musk and connections to US Vice President JD Vance.

Who is Canada's new prime minister?

Mark Carney is the only candidate to succeed Trudeau who was not in his government. However, according to Reuters, his name has been circulating for years as a possible leader of the Liberals, largely due to his financial credentials. Carney worked for Goldman Sachs before joining the Canadian finance ministry in 2004, and was appointed governor of the Bank of Canada in 2007. In that role, he had to deal with the fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis.

The first person to have led two major central banks, Carney predicted the economic damage that would occur if Britain left the European Union, comments that led to furious attacks from Brexiteers. After leaving the bank in 2020, he was named the United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance. He was also a vice-chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, but left the role during the campaign.

The former banker was the Liberal Party favourite to succeed Trudeau because he had the most endorsements from party members and raised more money than any other candidate. About two-thirds of Trudeau’s government ministers had publicly backed Carney, and a Mainstreet poll in late February gave him 43 per cent support among Liberals compared with 31 per cent for his main rival, former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Freeland had run for office on the basis of her experience negotiating with Trump during her first term. But while she had distanced herself from Trudeau in recent months, her close proximity to the then prime minister worked against her. Freeland left the finance ministry in December after Trudeau tried to replace her, and she criticised the government’s spending policies. Another candidate to lead the party and the government was Karina Gould, a former Liberal leader in the House of Commons who had also been a minister in Trudeau's government.