MNI: Carney Joins Canada Leadership Race Pledging Fiscal Reset
MNI (OTTAWA) - Mark Carney said Thursday he’s joining the contest to become the next Liberal Leader, with the former BOE and BOC chief pledging an economic reset to overcome a massive lag in the polls and fend off Conservatives in an election due by October.
The decision follows Justin Trudeau’s Jan. 6 announcement he intends to resign March 24. Carney is expected to face off against former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, and the winner would also take over as prime minister.
“I’ve helped save two economies, I know how business works, I know how to make it work for you,” Carney said in his childhood home of Edmonton, Alberta. (See: MNI: Trudeau Deficit Unlikely To Fix Canada's Vibecession) Without mentioning Trudeau, he said “the federal government spends too much, but it invests little,” and accused Conservatives of being like their UK counterparts in seeking a "license to destroy" rather than helping working families.
Carney joins a long list of former Goldman Sachs bankers moving into politics, and former central bankers such as Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi. Carney kept his name alive as a potential Liberal leader for years and Trudeau in late 2024 named him a special economic adviser. That was an early sign of the falling out between Trudeau and Freeland, who quit Dec. 16 hours before she was due to deliver a budget update. Freeland’s resignation letter attacked Trudeau’s fiscal "gimmicks" that she said failed to meet the challenge of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's threatened 25% tariff.
Born in the Northwest Territories before moving with his parents to Alberta, Carney has said his journey to high finance had humble beginnings with a summer landscaping job. Carney was a hockey goalie at Harvard and his roommate was Peter Chiarelli who has been an executive at several National Hockey League Clubs.
ROCK STAR BANKER
Carney’s BOC term began in February 2008 and his prestige soared as Canada avoided banking carnage seen in the U.S. and Europe. He cut rates to a record low and avoided QE with a "conditional commitment" to keep rates low. That success helped make him FSB chair in 2011 before moving to the BOE part-way through his Canadian term in 2013. He was also a top official in Canada’s finance department, credited with a successful sale of a government-owned oil company.
Carney made history as a foreigner brought to the BOE amid the Libor scandal and concerns about other market weaknesses. He gained fame as a "rock star" central banker including plaudits from the Black Eyed Peas. He was also dubbed an unreliable boyfriend in the UK around his economic signals and raised eyebrows during Brexit while laying out potential costs.
Ties to Trudeau and low Liberal polling create a high cliff to surmount. Carney has suggested differences with Trudeau such as fiscal restraint and said despite his environmental work he's aware many Canadians dislike Trudeau’s carbon tax. Carney didn't spell out how he will deal with U.S. tariffs but said Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is a lifelong politician with “naive and dangerous ideas.” (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Canada Must Avoid US Trade War- Factory Group)
Few if any experts MNI has spoken to see Carney as a street-level politician. His first speech as BOC Governor referred to the UK's historic Corn Laws, which may have been familiar from his days at Harvard and Oxford but few Canadians have heard of.