Mark Carney to Lead Canada Amid Rising Trade Tensions With US

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

The Liberal Party is hoping that Carney’s resume and background can help calm voter concerns about their managing of the economy. Carney was Bank of Canada governor during the 2008 financial crisis. He was also Bank of England governor during Brexit, and had to manage a lot of the economic fallout that came from the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. 

One of the biggest questions facing Carney is how he's going to differentiate himself from his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. Now Trudeau announced his resignation earlier this year on January 6th, 2025 and Carney has already started to walk back on some of the policies that Trudeau was most unpopular associated with. 

In his victory address at the Liberal leadership convention, Carney announced that he would ax the national carbon tax. He would not implement a capital gains tax hike, and that he would cap immigration at pre-pandemic levels, at least until Canada is able to invest and build more housing and infrastructure to support a larger immigrant population.

 The US, on his second day as Liberal leader, has announced that it's implementing a further 25% hike on an already 25% tariff implementation on steel and aluminum coming in from Canada. That's in response to Ontario's announcement that it would implement a 25% export tax on energy and electricity entering entering the United States from the province. Ontario mainly provides energy to northern states, namely Minnesota, Michigan, and New York. 

Carney will assume the office of Prime Minister after a brief transition period between Trudeau's tenure and his tenure. However, as prime minister designate without a seat in parliament, he's expected to call an election well before the October deadline to do so. With a 37 to 51 day period for an election to take place, there's no guarantee that Carney will emerge victorious with a Liberal win in the upcoming election. In fact, polls are nearly tied right now between his party and the Conservative Party led by Pierre Poilievre. So although it is historic that Carney has taken on the mantle and become Canada's 24th prime minister in a month and a half, we may be looking at a different prime minister leading things in Ottawa.