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Agence France-Presse

Mark Carney, whose Liberal Party won Canada’s election on Monday, has a history of taking on roles at challenging moments.
“I’m most useful in a crisis. I’m not that good at peacetime,” he said during the campaign.
Carney secured a term as prime minister despite having never served in parliament, which is unprecedented in Canadian history.
Even with no government experience, he convinced voters that his background dealing with financial turmoil equipped him to lead Canada through US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

A 60-year-old married father of four, Carney was born near the Arctic in Fort Smith, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, but was raised in the western city of Edmonton.
Like many Canadians, he played hockey in his youth. He studied at Harvard in the United States and Oxford in England, and made a fortune as an investment banker early in his career at Goldman Sachs, working in New York, London, Tokyo and Toronto.
Carney then joined the Canadian civil service, eventually being appointed governor of the Bank of Canada in 2008 by former prime minister Stephen Harper, a conservative.
The global financial crisis erupted shortly thereafter, and Carney was among a group of leaders credited with steering Canada through an international meltdown relatively unscathed.
In 2013 the United Kingdom’s prime minister, David Cameron, tapped him to head the Bank of England, making Carney the first non-Briton to lead the institution since its founding in 1694.
The UK then voted to leave the European Union, and Carney played a key role reassuring markets following the 2016 Brexit vote.

When the Canadian announced he was leaving the bank in late 2019, Britain’s then-finance minister Sajid Javid said Carney had led “with conviction, rigour and intelligence”.
In a recent appearance on a Canadian comedy show, the host – listing the financial crisis, Brexit and Trump’s trade war – joked Carney might be to blame for the economic upheaval that trails him.
Laughing, Carney said “it’s the other way around. I come in to fix these things”.
Reports that Carney had interest in entering Canadian politics have circulated for years.
In January, after then-prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his plans to resign, Carney launched a campaign to lead the Liberal Party.
Analysts questioned whether a technocrat with no experience in retail politics could energise a party facing dismal polls, as anger towards Trudeau surged after a decade in power.

Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull has noted Carney “doesn’t have a dynamic communication style”.
And yet he went on to win the Liberal Party race, and the general election.
Carney had isolated stumbles during the campaign, but experts said his most effective moments were those when he assumed the role of prime minister and assailed Trump in front of a row of Canadian flags.
“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over,” Carney said last month after Trump unveiled his auto tariffs.
After leaving the Bank of England, Carney wrote a book and became a United Nations adviser on climate change and finance.
He also returned to the private sector as chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, a major multinational Canadian company.
Carney faced tough questions about his private sector experience, including any role he played in helping Brookfield reduce its Canadian tax burden.
He also had tense exchanges with reporters when asked about his personal wealth.
Carney was pressed to disclose his assets, including what stocks he held, so voters could judge whether he faced any conflicts as prime minister.
He countered that he put all his assets in a blind trust, complying with Canada’s ethics rules.
“Look inside yourself,” he said to a reporter who pressed him last month on his decision not to disclose his assets.
“You start from a prior of conflict and ill will,” he charged.
“I have stood up for Canada. I have left my roles in the private sector at a time of crisis for our country.”


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Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney during the election campaign tour. Photo: Reuters

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney shows his Edmonton Oilers’ T-shirt. Photo: Reuters

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife, Diana Fox Carney. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

Carney’s Liberals win Canadian election dominated by Trump, as Conservative’s Poilievre loses seat

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at his campaign headquarters on election night in Ottawa. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney embraces his wife Diana Fox Carney. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre with his wife Anaida Poilievre at his election night headquarters in Ottawa. Photo: Reuters

Supporters of Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa. Photo: Reuters

On election day, Trump wants Canada to become ‘cherished’ 51st US state

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney walks at Ottawa International Airport in Ontario on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Voters arrive at a polling station in Halifax, Canada, on Monday. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Canada’s leaders make final pitches in campaign disrupted by Trump

Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal leader Mark Carney during a campaign rally in London, Ontario, on Friday. Photo: AFP

Leader of Canada’s left-wing NDP, Jagmeet Singh, embraces a woman during a campaign stop at a Lapu Lapu Day block party, in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday. Photo: AP

Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre shakes hands with supporters following a rally in Delta, British Columbia, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Days before Canada’s election, Trump says country would ‘cease to exist’ if not for US

US President Donald Trump gestures while wearing a hat that reads “Gulf of America” as he departs the White House in Washington on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

News

World

United States & Canada

Mark Carney secured a term as prime minister despite having never served in parliament


Mark Carney secured a term as prime minister despite having never served in parliament.


Donald Trump

US-ally trade wars

Mark Carney

Canada’s Mark Carney: political newcomer who says he’s best in crisis

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Mark Carney secured a term as prime minister despite having never served in parliament

Mark Carney secured a term as prime minister despite having never served in parliament