(The Hill) — Mark Carney, a former central banker, won his Liberal Party’s election in a landslide on Sunday to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister of Canada. He will be sworn into office in the coming days.
Carney will enter office as a political outsider. Having never held political office, Carney’s win was credited largely to his strong economic credentials — which are seen as a significant asset for Canada as the country finds itself in a trade war with President Donald Trump’s administration.
Carney is a two-time central banker. He ran the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and earned praise for helping the nation recover from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries did.
He was then recruited to run the Bank of England — which he did from 2013 to 2020 — becoming the first non-British person to do so in the institution’s more than 300-year history. In 2020, he became the United Nations’ special envoy for climate action and finance.
Carney graduated from Harvard University in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Oxford University. He played ice hockey in college.
Carney began his career in banking. He is a former Goldman Sachs executive, with 13 years of experience working in New York, Toronto, London and Tokyo. In 2003, he was appointed the Bank of Canada’s deputy governor.
Carney’s time as prime minister might be short-lived. He will face a federal election this year and square off against the Conservative Party of Canada’s Pierre Poilievre. Until recently, the Liberal Party had been trailing in the polls — with a mid-January poll showing Poilievre leading, 47 to 20 percent. The latest poll, however, shows Conservatives just 3 points ahead of Liberals, 37 to 34 percent.
The Associated Press contributed.
