Former central banker Mark Carney has won the Liberal leadership race and will become prime minister after a transition is ironed out with outgoing leader Justin Trudeau.
Carney bested two former cabinet members and a former Liberal MP in a campaign that had little drama between candidates as they focused their criticism on U.S. President Donald Trump and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Carney received the most endorsements from the Liberal cabinet and caucus, and greatly surpassed his opponents in fundraising.
The exact time he will be become prime minister has yet to be determined, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying last week that a transition period will be necessary.
Trudeau announced his intention to resign in early January as he faced mounting pressure to step down after Chrystia Freeland, who finished a distant second in the leadership race, resigned from cabinet in December.
Carney will become a rare, unelected prime minister, having never run for office and positioning himself as a political “outsider” before officially launching his campaign.
He’s also the only prime minister to hold two other citizenships, being a citizen of both England and Ireland. John Turner before him, who briefly served in 1984, had British citizenship. Carney said in late February he has begun the process of renouncing his other citizenships.
Central Bank Governor, Executive Positions
The son of teachers, Carney was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, and grew up in Edmonton.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard (1988) and a Masters (1993) and doctorate in the same field from Oxford (1995).
He started his career in the private sector, before becoming a public servant and moving up to become the governor of the Bank of Canada (BoC) from 2007 to 2013. After leaving the BoC in 2013, he served as governor of the Bank of England until 2020.
After leaving that role, he served on a number of boards and held executive roles in the private sector, and became heavily involved in net-zero emissions initiatives.
Among these roles have been executive or board membership positions with financial corporations Brookfield Asset Management, Stripe, PIMCO, and international organizations or charities such as Bloomberg Philanthropies, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations Climate Action and Finance.
By Noé Chartier and Omid Ghoreishi
