By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-09 23:26:16 | Updated at 2025-03-10 05:14:39
5 hours ago
Mark Carney, soon to become Canada’s new prime minister, is a two-time central banker and crisis fighter about to face his biggest challenge of all: steering Canada through Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The 59-year-old Carney is a political outsider who has never held office, which would in normal times have killed his candidacy in Canada. But distance from Trudeau and a high-profile banking career played to his advantage, and Carney argues he is the only person prepared to handle Trump.
“I know how to manage crises … in a situation like this, you need experience in terms of crisis management, you need negotiating skills,” Carney said during a leadership debate late last month.
Carney was born in Fort Smith in the remote Northwest Territories. He attended Harvard University where he played college-level ice hockey, starring as a goalkeeper.
Carney, who garnered the most party endorsements and the most money raised among the four Liberal candidates, will soon be the first person to become Canadian prime minister without being a legislator and without having had any cabinet experience.
