
Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney speaks at a news conference at the Bank of England in London on Feb. 7, 2019. (Hannah McKay/Pool/Reuters)
Former central banker Mark Carney has officially announced he will run to become the next leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister of Canada.
“I’m proud of what we’ve built for each other, a great country built on hard work and the right values. I’m doing this because Canada is the best country in the world, but it still could be even better,” Carney said during his announcement in Edmonton on Jan. 16.
The former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England said his background would help him get Canada’s economy back on track. “I’ve helped manage multiple crises, and I’ve helped save two economies. I know how business works, and I know how to make it work for you,” he said.
“Canada needs change, but not just any change. We need change that works for people.”
Carney was governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis, and was governor of the Bank of England as the country decided to leave the European Union in 2016.
Carney said Canada’s economy was “not working as it should,” with many struggling to afford housing or find a doctor.
He added that the country could not achieve its full potential with the “ideas of the far-left.” He said that political ideology too often sees government as the solution to every problem, and encourages spending that “just treats the symptoms of the problems but doesn’t cure the disease.”
“We can’t redistribute what we don’t have, and we can’t support the vulnerable in our society, or defend this great country, if we have a weak economy,” he said.
“The federal government spends too much, but it invests too little. Middle-class taxes are too high, and we’re not yet ready to make the AI revolution and the energy transition work for all Canadians. So in the coming days and weeks, I’ll propose some big changes and some bold new ideas.”
Carney was appointed U.N. special envoy on climate action and finance in 2020, a role he ended as he launched his Liberal leadership bid this month. In an interview with Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith in October, Carney said his focus on “sustainable finance” involves getting “capital to solutions to address climate change.”
In his Jan. 16 speech, Carney also touched on the threat of tariffs from incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, saying the incoming president “threatens economic force on his closest, most steadfast allies,” and that he would be the right person to deal with the Trump administration.
In his press conference, he also turned his focus on the Conservatives, calling Poilievre’s proposed policies “naive and dangerous ideas.” Referring to Tories’ key slogans such as “Axe the Tax,” Carney said, “three-word sound bites” would not solve Canadians’ problems.
“Conservatives don’t run around saying ‘Canada is broken’ because they want to fix it. They want a licence to demolish and destroy, including many of the things on which we all, and regular people, depend,” Carney said.
“Mark Carney is back to continue what Justin Trudeau started,” the ad says.
Carney and Freeland
The Liberal Party is set to announce its new leader on March 9. If Carney wins the race, he would become a rare unelected prime minister.
Carney has been providing informal advice to the Liberal government since at least 2020, and was named special economic adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2024.
Carney also has close relations to former cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland, who is likely to become his main opponent in the Liberal leadership race. He is a longtime friend of Freeland and is godfather to one of her children.