Canada’s incoming prime minister Carney meets Trudeau, promises quick transition

OTTAWA – Former central banker Mark Carney, fresh from a landslide victory to become the leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and the country’s next prime minister, met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 10 and said the formal handover of power would be quick.

Liberal members on March 9 bet on Mr Carney as the man best placed to take on US President Donald Trump, who has threatened annexation as well as launched a trade war and punishing tariffs on the long-time ally.

Mr Trudeau is still prime minister until Mr Carney formally takes over the role.

“That transition will be seamless, and it will be quick,” Mr Carney said after meeting Mr Trudeau. The Globe and Mail newspaper said he was likely to be appointed later in the week.

Mr Carney, when asked about his relations with Mr Trump, declined to answer on the grounds that he was not yet prime minister.

Liberal sources say Mr Carney, who also met the Liberal parliamentary caucus, will soon call for a general election.

“We know this is a crucial time for our country. We are united to serve Canadians,” he told reporters.

Mr Trump’s move to impose tariffs on America’s northern neighbour has triggered an angry backlash in Canada, where provinces pulled US alcohol off shelves and urged people to buy Canadian products instead.

Mr Carney, in his acceptance speech late on March 9, said: “The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country... if they succeed, they will destroy our way of life.”

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said on March 10 that it was imposing a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports to New York state, Michigan and Minnesota in protest.

“President Trump’s tariffs are a disaster for the US economy,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford, adding that he would not hesitate to cut off electricity exports if necessary.

Foreign Minister Melanie Joly welcomed the move.

“If premiers and provinces are using levers that are in favour of our position, (that’s) good news, let’s do more of that,” she told reporters.

The US is due to slap a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminium on March 12. Ottawa imposed a 25 per cent tariff on C$30 billion (S$27.7 billion) worth of US imports when Mr Trump in February announced his initial tariff plans for Canada and Mexico.

He has since suspended the tariffs for a month on goods that fall under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a free trade deal signed in 2018 by Mr Trump, Mr Trudeau and then Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Mr Carney, on March 9, said: “My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.”

The reconstituted Liberal government is likely to be short-lived.

If Mr Carney, who does not have a seat in the Canadian Parliament, does not call an election, his political opponents have said they would defeat the government at their first opportunity when the Parliament reconvenes in late March.

Mr Carney will be up against the official opposition Conservatives, who said there was no difference at all between Mr Trudeau and Mr Carney, who has had long spells in the finance industry.

“Carney will sell out Canada for his personal profit... he’s systematically done it his entire time as a corporate insider,” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters.

Maintaining momentum

Mr Carney won the Liberal leadership with 86 per cent of the votes cast by party members. The governor-general, the representative of Britain’s King Charles in Canada, will soon invite him to form a government. 

The Conservatives led in the polls for months, often by double digits, ahead of the Liberals.

The political landscape shifted with the return of Mr Trump to the White House on Jan 20, the prospect of tariffs and the threat of annexation. It coincided with a surge of support for the Liberals, who have ridden a wave of renewed national unity to come neck-and-neck with the Conservatives.

The challenge now will be to maintain that momentum and convince Canadians to give a party that has spent nearly a decade in power another go – while fighting a trade war on multiple fronts.

Western University politics professor Cameron Anderson said: “Without overstating it, the challenges are almost unique in Canadian history, if not unique in the post-war period.”

Mr Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, will be the first person to become Canada’s prime minister with no prior experience in electoral politics. REUTERS