Mark Carney Launches Liberal Leadership Bid in Edmonton

Mark Carney speaks during his Liberal leadership campaign launch in Edmonton on Jan. 16, 2025. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson

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.

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.

Economic Focus

Back in April 2024, Carney said at a keynote address in Toronto that Canada’s prosperity would be “severely compromised” unless the country managed to increase its productivity.

In his Jan. 16 speech, Carney criticized the current state of affairs under the Liberal government, saying Ottawa is currently spending too much and that taxes are too high. He also made a reference to one of his areas of focus, “energy transition,” which involves moving away from fossil fuels and transitioning towards a “zero-carbon economy.”

“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” involved getting “capital to solutions to address climate change.”

Carney told reporters after his announcement he resigned from all his executive and corporate board roles, including at Bloomberg, Brookfield, Pacific Investment Management Company, and Stripe.

“Just to be clear, I resigned all my roles, cut all my ties. I am all in,” he said.

Facing Poilievre and Trump

In his Jan. 16 speech, Carney also touched on the threat of tariffs from U.S. President-elect 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.

Carney also said that by not being a serving politician, he is not a “usual suspect.” During an appearance on The Daily Show earlier in the week, Carney also called himself a political “outsider” and said this would be an advantage politically.

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.

On the same day Carney started his campaign, the Conservative Party launched a new advertising campaign to show his past support for the carbon tax, referring to him as “Carbon Tax Carney” and saying he is “just like Justin.”

“Mark Carney is back to continue what Justin Trudeau started,” the ad says.

Carney was asked by reporters what he intends to do with the carbon tax but he would not say at this point, mentioning more details will be released during an upcoming speech.

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

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.

Freeland is also expected to announce her leadership bid in the coming days. Her shock resignation from cabinet on Dec. 16, the same day she was scheduled to deliver the fall economic statement, triggered a cascade of events leading to Trudeau to announce on Jan. 6 that he plans on resigning once a replacement is chosen.

Government House Leader Karina Gould is also expected to join the race. Others that have announced their intention to run include Liberal MP Chandra Arya, Liberal MP Jaime Battiste, and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis.

Candidates have until Jan. 23 to register and pay the $350,000 fee to enter the race. Only $50,000 of that amount is refundable.