Mark Carney launches Liberal leadership campaign to replace Trudeau, focused on building ‘strongest economy’

Former BoC governor Mark Carney has announced his Liberal leadership bid - Mike Le Couteur reports on who may follow.

After months of speculation about his political future, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney is running to lead the Liberal party and replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I’m doing this because I love our country,” Carney told a group of supporters and Liberal MPs at his official launch event in Edmonton, Alta., on Thursday, later adding “but it could be even better.”

Carney grew up in Edmonton where his father, Bob Carney, ran for the Liberals federally in 1980 in the riding of Edmonton-South, coming in second to Douglas Roche, a Progressive Conservative.

After months of lagging polling numbers and political pressure from within his own caucus, Trudeau announced on Jan. 6 that he would be resigning as Liberal party leader and prime minister once a replacement is found.

Carney focused on getting economy ‘back on track’

During his campaign launch speech, Carney referred to his own background in economics as both central bank governor in Canada and England, saying he is “completely focused on getting our economy back on track.”

“If you wonder why I can succeed where others have failed or will fall short, consider this: I’ve helped manage multiple crises, and I’ve helped save two economies,” Carney said. “I know how business works, and I know how to make it work for you.”

In his pitch to voters, Carney also took aim at the Trudeau government’s handling of the economy. In recent years, the prime minister has been criticized for not addressing affordability sooner.

“I know I’m not the only liberal in Canada who believes that the Prime Minister and his team let their attention wander from the economy too often,” he said. “I won’t lose focus.”

If elected Liberal leader, Carney also says he “will offer Canadians a clear choice in the next election” and pledges to “propose some big changes and some bold new ideas” in the coming days and weeks.

“We have to give Canadians that choice because, let’s face it, even if Donald Trump and the threat he brings didn’t exist, we still have big problems,” he said to supporters. “Our growth has been too slow. People’s wages are too low. Necessities like groceries and rent are too expensive for too many. The federal government spends too much, but it invests too little.”

Asked by reporters about whether a potential policy change could include scrapping the carbon tax, Carney would not say.

“If you are going to take out the carbon tax, you should replace it with something that is at least, if not more effective,” Carney said.

Carney calls himself ‘an outsider’

In an interview Monday night on ‘The Daily Show’ in which he soft-launched his campaign, Carney described himself as an “outsider” despite his connections to the Trudeau government.

When asked about this characterization, Carney said offering advice is different than serving in cabinet.

“There’s a pretty big difference between being a member of the cabinet, a member of the caucus, the prime minister himself, and being someone who occasionally their advice is asked,” Carney said.

Carney also joked that he wouldn’t “reveal which advice has been followed or which hasn’t.”

In 2020, Trudeau tapped the long-time economist as an “informal adviser” on the federal government’s pandemic recovery plan.

Meanwhile, last summer, Trudeau told reporters that he had been talking to Carney about joining federal politics and later in September, he appointed the former central banker to be a special economic adviser to the Liberal party.

For months, the Conservatives have been referring to Carney as “Carbon tax Carney,” and have ramped up their social media attacks on him amid his looming leadership bid.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre continued to link Carney to the Trudeau government.

“You ever wonder why we can’t have nice things in Canada anymore like health care or affordable food or homes? The stuff we used to take for granted as Canadians. You ever wonder why that is after nine years of Trudeau, Freeland and Carney being in power,” Poilievre said.

Carney took aim at Poilievre in his leadership campaign launch.

“’Canada is broken’ is one of Poilievre’s many three word slogans, and it couldn’t be more dangerous,” Carney said to supporters.

“Conservatives don’t run around saying Canada is broken because they want to fix it. They want a license to demolish and destroy.”

Did Trudeau tap Carney to replace Freeland?

Last month, a Liberal source told CTV News that Trudeau intended to replace former finance minister Chrystia Freeland with Carney. That decision to remove Freeland from the finance portfolio led to her sudden resignation on Dec. 16 – just hours prior to the delivery of the fall economic statement – and ultimately, Trudeau’s own resignation.

Asked directly whether Trudeau asked him to replace Freeland as finance minister, Carney said there were “discussions about various roles” and that the prime minister was looking to reinforce his team amid Donald Trump’s tariff threat.

“He approached me, he approached some other people. They can speak for themselves. Some of it’s in the media, and the intention was to reinforce the team, not change the team, if you will,” Carney said. “So, we had discussions about various roles. I was minded to do it as a member of the team. In the end, the team didn’t come together for reasons that we know.”

Carney does not have a seat in the House of Commons, and it remains unclear which riding he will run in.

“I will run as an MP somewhere, but I’m running for prime minister. I’m running for prime minister of all of Canada,” Carney said.

So far, backbench Liberal MPs Chandra Arya and Jaime Battise and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis have said they also intend to run.

A source close to Freeland tells CTV News that she is set to officially launch her leadership bid on Sunday, ahead of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, along with her first policy plank and dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Freeland told Liberals that she is “grateful for the chance to hear from you and listen to your ideas” and that she will “have much more to say very soon!”

Sources tell CTV News that Government House Leader Karina Gould is also planning to launch her bid this week.

Speaking to reporters following an event in Burlington on Tuesday, Gould said she’ll “have more to say in the coming days.”

The Liberal party is set to pick its next leader on March 9, with candidates obligated to declare their intention to run by Jan. 23.