Ottawa:
Former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney announced his candidacy Thursday to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader and prime minister, quickly becoming the front-runner in the race.
The 59-year-old Harvard- and Oxford-educated economist launched his campaign at a hockey rink in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up.
“We’re doing this because Canada is the best country in the world, but we can be even better,” Carney told the crowd.
He pitched himself as an outsider and unconventional politician with strong economic acumen, vowing to get Canada’s economy “back on track” and fend off Donald Trump’s tariff threat.
Mr Carney is expected to face off against his friend and former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who is expected to announce her leadership on Sunday.
Mr. Freeland abruptly resigned in December after clashing with his boss over how to respond to Mr. Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, and Mr. Trudeau also announced his resignation last week. This led to a political crisis.
The winner of the party’s leadership will automatically become prime minister and inherit a party that is trailing Pierre Poièvre’s Conservative Party by 20 points in opinion polls. The party could face a snap election as early as March.
Mr. Carney, a relative unknown to most Canadians, immediately launched an attack on Mr. Poièvre on Thursday, accusing him of advocating “bad ideas, naive and dangerous ideas.”
At the same time, the former United Nations special envoy for climate change acknowledged that Canada’s climate measures, such as the carbon tax that Poilievre wants to abolish, are not working for all Canadians.
Meanwhile, in a recent appearance on “The Daily Show,” Mr. Carney playfully refuted Mr. Trump’s improbable plan to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, telling host Jon Stewart, “We I have no intention of living with you.”
“We can be friends,” he added. “Friends with benefits.”
Mr. Stewart said during the interview that he felt like he was about to break up with Mr. Carney.
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