On March 9, the Liberal Party announced Mark Carney as its next leader of the federal party, which makes him the prime minister-designate.
Candidate Karina Gould, who finished third place in the voting, said that she was “excited about the unity” that was shown at the convention.
“What we saw tonight is that liberals very much have a view of how we need to move our party forward,” said Gould.
“I’m excited to keep building our party so that we can keep building our country, take the fight to Pierre Poilievre, take the fight to Donald Trump, stand up for Canada, stand up for Canadians and make sure that we win the next election.”
Carney’s victory follows Justin Trudeau’s Jan. 6 announcement that he would resign as prime minister following a “nationwide” leadership race.
Once Carney is sworn in by Governor General Mary Simon, Carney will become the 24th prime minister of Canada.
Liberal Party President Sachit Mehra made the announcement at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa that Carney received 85.9 per cent of the votes which were cast by nearly 152,000 registered members of the Liberal Party.
Related: BREAKING: Mark Carney announced next Liberal leader, prime minister
Former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland finished second with 8 per cent of the votes. The two other candidates, Gould and Frank Baylis, finished with 3.2 and 3 per cent of the votes, respectively.
Drashtant Varma, a University of New Brunswick student, has been involved with the Liberal Party since he was 13. His priority vote was for Mark Carney, but he still acknowledged that the landslide victory was “a big shock.”
“It gives Carney a clear mandate from the liberal side of things,” said Varma. “There’s no doubt that Carney’s credentials, the experience he has … I think he [was] certainly the best candidate.”
Carney was the Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and the Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.
He is often credited with helping Canada through the worst of the 2008 financial crisis and helping England get through Brexit.
Matt DeCourcey, a former Member of Parliament for the Fredericton riding, attended the convention. He served in Ottawa under Trudeau from 2015 to 2019.
He agreed that Carney will be a leader who can help to “unify this country.”
“Canadians are looking for someone who can unify this country, protect these things that make us Canadian and invest in our unity for the long term,” said DeCourcey. “What I see is that people came here tonight to support Mark Carney because he’s the right guy to do just that.”
He believes that people across Canada are looking for a leader who can “defend their interests and defend Canada.”
“It’s a clear endorsement of the experience, the worldliness, the plan and the team that’s going to deliver on the plan that Mark Carney represents,” said DeCourcey.
In his inaugural speech as the new leader, Carney said that he will “immediately eliminate” the consumer carbon tax on families, farmers and small- and medium-sized businesses and will stop the “hike” in the capital gains tax.
“I am a pragmatist above all,” said Carney. “When I see that something’s not working, I will change it.”
Varma said that Carney is best positioned to take advantage of the Liberal Party’s momentum, partially due to him being the only candidate who was not an MP under Trudeau.
“Carney is someone new coming in with all these different ideas, someone with a different set of experiences and someone with the sterling credentials like he himself has, can use that momentum.”
Tom Bateman, a political science professor at St. Thomas University, believes that Carney never got too close to Trudeau to have been “tainted” by the former prime minister’s reputation.
Bateman suggested that the most likely thing to happen next is that Carney asks the Governor General for a dissolution of Parliament and “go right to the polls.”
“Make it about Canada-U.S. relations and defending this country and just go from there.”
Varma said that he has heard similar things “through the grapevines.”
“I’ve heard Carney’s own thinking is along the lines of that he will dissolve parliament fairly soon and go straight into an election,” he said.
“I think Carney’s thinking along the lines of ‘Let’s go, let’s try to do this as soon as we can.’”
The biggest issue facing Canada is the threat of tariffs from United States President Donald Trump, according to Bateman. He believes that Carney has positioned himself well to face the threat.
“The Liberal Party is perfectly positioned to wrap themselves in a flag and tout themselves as the representative for Canada against the United States,” said Bateman.
Despite Trump’s recent extension of tariffs on Canadian goods until April 2, Carney said that his government will “Keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.”
“We have to look for ourselves and we have to look out for each other,” said Carney.
DeCourcey reiterated this sentiment, saying that Carney is the “right guy to do it.”
“This is about ensuring that this generation and future generations will be able to enjoy the quality of life that we have, that we celebrate as a country,” he said. “He’s the right guy to lead a team that will deal with the Trump administration and the existential threat that they pose.”
Bateman expects that Carney will be “more positive about Canada.” He added that there’s likely going to be “more emphasis” on economic growth, in-nation trading and an aggressive search for investment into Canada.
According to Bateman, Carney was the superior pick to tackle the economic issues facing Canadians due to his “sparkling resume.”
“His experience in central banks gives him a pretty intimate knowledge of macroeconomic trends and large economic development investment policy questions,” said Bateman.
Carney said that he will put into action a plan to build a stronger economy in Canada and create new trading relationships with “reliable trading partners.”
Bateman said the federal election will be a much more “competitive affair” now that Carney is in office.
According to 338 Canada polls that were last updated on the morning of March 9, the Polievre led Conservative Party has just a 6 per cent lead over the Liberal Party. This lead got as high as 25 per cent on Jan. 5, the day before Trudeau announced his resignation.
“For now and at this point in our country’s history, Mark Carney [was] the best candidate and the best man for the job,” said Varma.
