Canada's Liberals Choose Mark Carney as New Leader to Succeed Trudeau as PM

Canada's Liberal Party overwhelming chose former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to be its new leader and will soon succeed Justin Trudeau as Canada's 24th Prime Minister.

Carney won an astounding 85% of the vote earning more than 10 times the vote of his nearest rival former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland who tallied only 8% of the vote.

In choosing Carney, Liberal Party members didn't want to choose Freeland despite the fact she triggered his political downfall by resigning from cabinet last December. Freeland's ties to Trudeau were simply too close. Indeed, Carney does not have a seat in Canada's House of Commons and has never held elected office. But Carney headed the Bank of Canada during the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the Bank of England during Brexit. So, Carney has plenty of experience in handling crises and thus seems an ideal candidate to handle President Trump's draconian tariffs against Canada and threats of annexation.

While it might be harder for Conservatives to tie Carney to Trudeau, Carney remains a political novice who might be vulnerable to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a career politician who masquerades as a populist. Nevertheless, Poilievre is a formidable campaigner, and the Tories could easily label Carney as an elitist globalist. Then again, Carney could simply counter that former Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper wanted him to be his Minister of Finance while he was serving as Governor of the Bank of Canada in 2012. 

While the Conservatives still lead the Liberals in the polls their lead has been shrinking in recent weeks amid both Trudeau's impending departure but President Trump's aforementioned tariffs and overt desire to annex Canada repeatedly referring to it as the 51st state has made voters give the Liberals another look. With Carney soon to move into 24 Sussex Drive, these polls could change in the Liberals favor especially as Trump dismisses Poilievre every bit as much as he dismisses Trudeau. While Poilievre has toughened his tone against Trump, it is not nearly as vigorous as that of fellow Tory Ontario Premier Doug Ford. 

Of course, the question is when will Canadians be going to the polls. Will Carney go to Governor General Mary Simon moments after he is sworn in and dissolve Parliament? Or will the Conservatives and the other opposition parties defeat Carney's government in a vote of non-confidence most likely on March 24th? Or would the NDP and/or the Bloc Quebecois reverse course and give Carney a chance to show what he can do?

Whatever happens, Americans are paying attention to Canadian politics in a way they never have before. Then again, most Americans have never seen Canadians so mad before. 

As for Mark Carney, his first challenge is to earn the support of Canadian voters. If he does that then his next challenge will be if he can stand firm to President Trump on behalf of Canada.