Carney selected as Liberal leader, set to succeed Trudeau as PM
The Liberal Party of Canada has selected former central banker Mark Carney as their new leader and successor to Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
The Liberal Party of Canada has selected former central banker Mark Carney as their new leader and successor to Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
After a two-month leadership contest, Carney won the leadership race on the first ballot with 131,674 ballots, amounting to 85.9 per cent of the vote. Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland finished second with 11,134 and 8 per cent of the vote while former government house leader Karina Gould placed third with 3.2 per cent and former MP Frank Baylis came last with 3 per cent.
In a leadership race precipitated by Trudeau’s resignation announcement, Carney emerged as the early frontrunner in the race. Just before he threw his hat in the race he appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Despite running as an “outsider,” Carney received numerous endorsements from Trudeau government cabinet ministers, including foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly, transport minister Anita Anand, defence minister Bill Blair, housing minister Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and more.
Throughout his campaign, Carney ran on a slogan saying that it was “time to build,” and that Canada needs to stand up against the threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Carney promised to alter Canada’s carbon pricing scheme, build out infrastructure nationwide, and rework the federal government’s budgeting process. He also positioned himself against what he called the U.S. “war on woke.”
Carney has faced criticism throughout his campaign for his shifting stance on building an east-to-west pipeline, making untrue statements about his past, and his unwillingness to talk to Canadian media, especially independent media.
Several Liberals seeking to become prime minister entered the leadership race, however, only four candidates made it to the final ballot as multiple candidates either dropped out due to ineligibility or were disqualified from the race.
Nepean MP Chandra Arya entered the campaign pledging to take the party in a new direction by cutting the size of the government, raising the age of retirement, abolishing the monarchy, and more. However, he was informed by the party’s leadership committee that he would be disqualified from the race.
Former MP Ruby Dhalla entered the race on a platform seeking to drag the Liberals back to the centre on issues like immigration and taxation but was disqualified just days before the party could hold their leadership debates in English and French.
Of the approximately 400,000 party members that the Liberals touted, 151,899 cast their ballot online in the leadership race.
Carney will become Canada’s first prime minister who has never been elected to any public office and the first prime minister since Paul Martin to rise to power outside of a general election.
Trudeau will formally resign as prime minister in a few days as Carney prepares to transition into the new role.
In what is likely his last public speech as prime minister, Trudeau said that he is “damn proud” of what his government accomplished over the past nine and a half years and is optimistic for the party’s future.
“Let us not dwell on all the great things we’ve achieved over the past ten years. Let us aspire instead to achieve even more over the next ten years and the decades to come, ” said Trudeau.
The Globe and Mail reported that Carney intends to call a snap election just before Parliament returns on March 24 and will schedule the election for Apr. 28 or May 5.
Carney can try out all his Globalist platforms using canada as a test bed. Then leave canada destroyed and return to one of his alternate countries. He is a billionaire that can destroy canada as it will never hurt him personally.
Of the approximately 400,000 members, only 131,674 voted for Carney...percentage wise this is a small amount!! What happened they didn't like Carney either??