Who is Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister?
BBC News
Former Bank of England boss Mark Carney became Canadian Prime Minister after being sworn in on Friday. When the country faces a trade war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump, he will need all his experience in dealing with the global economic crisis.
Mark Carney was the first non-British man to become the governor of the Bank of England in more than 300 years of history when he took the job in 2013.
He had previously guided his home country through the Great Depression by the governor of the Bank of Canada (the country’s central bank) and was poached by the top British banking industry.
However, unlike most PM-Hopes, Carney never held a political position. Still, he won the game to replace outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now, he must lead the country to one of its toughest challenges yet – a escalating trade war with its largest trading partner, the United States.
But insisting on the role of the Prime Minister is a battle in itself. Canada’s next federal election is scheduled to take place this October, but many hope Carney will call it shortly after he was sworn in.
Early and childhood
Although Carney worked in places like New York, London and Tokyo, he was born in Fort Smith, in the remote north of the Northwest.
Carney has three-quarters of grandparents from County Mayo, Ireland, and has both Irish and Canadian citizenship. He obtained British citizenship in 2018 but recently said he intends to renounce British and Irish nationality because he believes the Prime Minister can only have Canadian citizenship.
He is the son of a high school principal who went to Harvard to receive a scholarship, where he played the most sports hockey sport in Canada.
In 1995, he received his PhD in Economics from Oxford University, where he wrote a paper on whether domestic competition could make the economy more competitive nationwide – a topic that will certainly come up because Canada faces U.S. tariffs, which makes internal trade easier.
“Mark was a very versatile student who quickly mastered new methods, perspectives and challenges,” recalled Meg Meyer, his former PhD director.
“Those skills will undoubtedly serve him well during these turbulent times.”
Previous experience
In 2003, he left the private sector to join Bank of Canada as Deputy Governor, and then served as Senior Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Finance.
In 2007, he was appointed governor of the Bank of Canada, and soon the global market crashed, putting the country in a deep recession. His leadership at the central bank has been widely praised for helping the country avoid the worst crisis.
Although it is well known that despite the caution of central bankers, his intention is to keep interest rates at least for at least a year after a significant cut.
Even if the market sinks, this move will be attributed to helping companies continue to invest. He will continue to take a similar approach when he is lured back to London – this time the governor of the Bank of England.
He praised the modernization of banks, which appeared more frequently in the media than his predecessors.
In 2015, the bank reduced the number of interest rate meetings from 12 times a year to eight, and began publishing minutes while announcing interest rate decisions.
When he took over, interest rates were anchored to historic lows, but he introduced a “forward guidance” policy that the bank will try to further support the economy and encourage loans to pass guarantees not to raise interest rates until the unemployment rate drops below 7%.
Confusion about the policy brought him to a “unreliable boyfriend,” a nickname that was stuck long after the initial controversy disappeared.
Unlike the governor who had kept a low profile before, he conducted controversial interventions ahead of two large constitutional referendums.
In 2014, he warned that Scotland, an independent Scotland might have to surrender to Britain if it was to continue using the pound.
He warned that a vote to leave the EU could trigger a recession ahead of the Brexit referendum.
After the leave vote, David Cameron resigned as prime minister and pound fell, and he addressed the country to ensure the country would operate properly.
He described it as his “hardest day” at work, but said the bank’s contingency plan was effective.
The bank then lowered interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% – and restarted its quantitative easing program to support the economy.
He saw the start of the latest phase of the Kuved pandemic in the last week of March 2020 – banks cut 0.5% to support the economy, and Carney told the country that the economic shock “should be temporary.”

Crossing the road with Trump
Carney’s time at the bank gave him extensive experience in dealing with Donald Trump – not only has Donald Trump imposed huge tariffs on Canada since returning to office in January, but also suggests that the United States should annex its powerful neighbors.
From 2011-18, Carney served as chairman of the Financial Stability Committee, which coordinated the work of global regulators, which put him in a key role in the global response to the policies of the first President Trump.
He is a regular visitor to the G20 conference and has a look at Trump on the global stage.
Although he kept his own ideas about the U.S. president at the time, he has been more candid in recent days.
After Trump’s repeated comments on making Canada the 51st state, he is less diplomatic than the villain in Harry Potter’s book.
“When you consider these ridiculous, insulting comments from the president, I see it as an ambush of that kind of comment,” Carney said.
“Like I won’t even repeat, but you know what I’m talking about.”
As the trade war continues, he seems ready to dig his feet and points out that he will continue to impose anti-election campaigns “until Americans show respect to us…and (and make a credible and reliable commitment to free and fair trade.”
Political ambitions
Liberals have reportedly proposed to him for a decade, but it wasn’t until recently that the 59-year-old made it clear.
“Why didn’t I become a circus clown?” he told reporters in 2012.
However, things changed, and when Trudeau resigned after Trudeau’s resignation came after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland left the cabinet, a party took place, plus Trudeau’s tank poll numbers, leading the Prime Minister to announce his resignation.
Trudeau intends to replace Freeland with Carney in the Financial Post, the report said.
Freeland – Private Friend – even competed with him in the competition to replace Trudeau. But Carney won the landslide win, who made himself the best ability of Trump, who imposed huge tariffs on Canadians’ goods.
“I know how to manage a crisis,” Carney said during a leadership debate late last month. “In this case, you need experience in crisis management, you need negotiation skills.”
Still, his time in the financial world has left him criticized by Canadian political rivals.
The Conservatives accused Carney of lying, he was transferring the headquarters of the investment firm Brookfield Asset Management from Toronto to New York, although Carney said the official decision to relocate the company recently came after he quit the board.
They also prompted him to disclose his financial assets, which Carney doesn’t need to do at this moment because he is not a member of parliament.
His team said he will abide by all applicable ethics and guidelines once he serves as prime minister.
Where is Carney standing on the issue?
In addition to Carney’s Trump campaign approach, he has proposed a number of policies to address family issues.
He is known as an advocate of environmental sustainability. In 2019, he became a special envoy to UN climate change and in 2021 launched the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a bank and financial institution that strives to combat climate change.
One of the most controversial parts of the Trudeau platform is the carbon tax, which allows Canadians to pay taxes on carbon emissions taxes and receive kickbacks. Conservatives have repeatedly promised to end taxes, which they say is almost nothing to the environment.
Carney said he would keep it, but would tax the company – not the consumer. Critics say consumers will still end up paying for their bills at a higher price.
On immigration, Carney advocates capping current immigration targets to ensure there is no emphasis on Canada’s housing and health care system. This question stood out last yearTrudeau lowered his target among critics, saying the country’s immigration system was overspent.
He said despite slowing trade with the United States, his biggest task is to make Canada’s economy grow.
There are early signs that Carney’s remarks have received positive reviews – Recent pollsbefore Carney became prime minister, Canadians believe Carney is better at dealing with Trump than conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.