Mark Carney wins race to replace Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister
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Former central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister, official results showed on Sunday.
Carney will take over at a tumultuous time in Canada, which is in the midst of a trade war with longtime ally the United Statesunder President Donald Trump and must hold a general election soon.
The former governor of the Canadian central bank and Bank of England beat three rivals in the Liberal Party’s leadership contest in a landslide.Carney, 59, took 86% of votes cast to beat former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in a contest in which just under 152,000 party members voted.
“There’s someone who’s trying to weaken our economy,” Carney said of Trump, spurring loud boos at the party gathering. “He’s attacking Canadian workers, families, and businesses. We can’t let him succeed.” “This won’t be business as usual,” Carney said. “We will have to do things that we haven’t imagined before, at speeds we didn’t think possible.”
Carney, now prime minister-designate, has never served in elected office.
The Liberal leadership race began in January after Trudeau resigned following nearly a decade in office. He had faced internal pressure to quit over deep unpopularity with voters, who were frustrated with a housing crisis and the rising cost of living.
Carney won on the first ballot on Sunday evening, taking 85.9% of the vote to beat his nearest rival, former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Loud cheers erupted as the results were announced to a crowd of some 1,600 party faithful in Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
The party said more than 150,000 people had cast ballots in the race.
