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When did Mark Carney become prime minister of Canada?
Mark Carney became prime minister of Canada in March 2025 after the government of Justin Trudeau collapsed. The demise of the Trudeau government seemed to set up the Conservative Party to take control of the government. But fueled by a surge in Canadian nationalism, which was prompted by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump’s rhetoric about making Canada the “51st state,” Carney won a stunning and overwhelming victory.
What positions did Mark Carney hold before becoming prime minister?
Before becoming prime minister, Mark Carney served as governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and as head of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.
How did Mark Carney respond to the financial crisis of 2007–08 as governor of the Bank of Canada?
In response to the financial crisis of 2007–08, Mark Carney reduced interest rates by 0.5 percentage point months before most other countries did and promised to hold rates down for 12 more months to support credit markets and business confidence.
What was Mark Carney’s stance toward Pres. Donald Trump’s policies during his time as prime minister?
Mark Carney sought common ground with Pres. Donald Trump where possible but asserted Canada’s independence and criticized U.S. policies, including tariffs. In 2026, without naming Trump, Carney delivered a stunning rebuke of U.S. policy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The “rupture” speech, as it would be called, was greeted with a standing ovation and critical acclaim.
Mark Carney (born March 16, 1965, Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada) is a Canadian economist who became prime minister of Canada in March 2025 after he was elected leader of the Liberal Party. He had previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and as head of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. He is the first non-British person to have led the Bank of England since its founding in 1694. He led the Liberals to victory in the April 2025 snap election and subsequently became a leader on the world stage delivering the “rupture” speech, a stinging rebuke of U.S. policy, in January 2026.
Early life and education
Carney, who grew up in Canada, earned a bachelor’s degree (1988) from Harvard University, where his interest in economics was kindled by the lectures of another Canadian-born economist, John Kenneth Galbraith. He then studied economics at the University of Oxford (M.Phil., 1993; D.Phil., 1995). Prior to and following his studies at Oxford, Carney worked for Goldman Sachs, rising to become managing director of investment banking. While at Goldman Sachs he helped postapartheid South Africa gain access to international bond markets and advised Russia as it navigated a financial crisis in 1998.
Leading the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England
Carney was transferred to Canada in 2000. Three years later he was appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Canada (BOC). In 2004 he was seconded to the Department of Finance, where he implemented a policy to tax income trusts at the source. He returned to the BOC in November 2007 and took over as governor in February 2008. Unlike most other central bankers, Carney took immediate action in response to the 2007–08 financial crisis, reducing interest rates (by 0.5 percentage point) months before most other countries followed suit. In April 2009 he went further and promised to hold rates down for at least 12 more months in order to support the credit markets and sustain business confidence. As a result Canada and its banks suffered less than the other Group of 7 (G7) countries, and Canada was able to return to prerecession levels of output and employment earlier than other countries in the G7.
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Carney’s success, combined with his relative youth and accessibility to the media, made him something of a star in the normally staid world of central banks. He acquired international responsibilities, including the post of chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System at the Bank for International Settlements (2010–11) and chairman of the Financial Stability Board, based in Switzerland (2011–18). U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne stunned most observers in November 2012 when he declared that Carney would succeed Mervyn King as Bank of England (BOE) governor, marking the first time that a non-Briton had been appointed to the position. The announcement, however, was generally well received.
Carney faced numerous challenges in the post, taking over just as the United Kingdom’s economy was showing signs of sustained recovery from the recession that had started in 2008. Carney quickly adopted the “forward guidance” strategy that he had applied in Canada—giving the markets notice of the BOE’s plans by affirming that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the BOE’s very low interest rates would be maintained until unemployment in the United Kingdom fell from about 8 percent to below 7 percent. However, when unemployment dropped below 7 percent sooner than expected, there was concern about rising interest rates, leading Carney to announce that such increases would be limited. He later had to contend with the economic turmoil that ensued following the United Kingdom’s decision in 2016 to leave the European Union (“Brexit”).
Political career, leadership of the Liberal Party, and becoming prime minister
Carney stepped down as governor of the BOE when his term ended in 2020. He was named special envoy on climate action and finance by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and he also held seats on numerous corporate boards. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carney served as an informal adviser to the Canadian government under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In September 2024 Carney was tapped to lead a Liberal economic task force in anticipation of the scheduled 2025 general election.
In December 2024 one of Trudeau’s top lieutenants, finance minister Chrystia Freeland, abruptly stepped down just hours before she was to deliver the government’s first economic statement since Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory the previous month. Trudeau’s minority government proved unable to weather the shock, and a growing chorus of Liberal voices called upon the prime minister to resign. Trudeau’s personal popularity had been declining for some time, and polls showed Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party on track for a crushing electoral victory. Stating that Canadians deserved a “real choice in the next election,” on January 6, 2025, Trudeau announced his resignation as Liberal leader and prime minister.
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Although he had no experience in elected office, Carney had been seen as a possible successor to Trudeau for some time, and on January 16 he announced his candidacy for leadership of the Liberal Party. The contest quickly resolved into a two-person race between Carney and Freeland. While the two offered slightly different visions for Canada’s future, there was no acrimony in the competition; Carney and Freeland were old friends, with Carney serving as godfather to Freeland’s son, Ivan. On March 9 the results of the election were announced, and Carney won in a landslide.
Carney succeeded Trudeau as prime minister on March 14, and he called for a snap election to be held on April 28. Trump loomed large during the campaign; his repeated calls to make Canada the “51st state” of the United States were accompanied by threats to enact staggering tariffs on Canadian products. Carney rode a wave of Canadian nationalism into polling day, and he carried off one of the most remarkable comebacks in Canadian political history. When Trudeau resigned, a Conservative victory had been seen as all but assured. Instead, Carney led the Liberals to a fourth consecutive election win. Not only did the Liberals secure a minority government (falling three seats short of a majority), but Liberal candidates unseated both Conservative leader Poilievre and New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh.
Carney as prime minister Mark CarneyCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney celebrates in Ottawa, Canada, after a Liberal victory in snap federal elections, April 29, 2025.(more)
With his victory Carney wasted no time engaging with Trump. In his victory speech he announced:
America is not Canada. And Canada never, ever, will be part of America in any way, shape, or form. We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.
During his first year in office, Carney sought common ground with Trump, visiting the White House just weeks after taking office, at which time the president called him “a very talented person.” But the Trump administration continued to place higher tariffs on Canada, one of the United States’ largest trading partners, straining relations. An ad, produced by Doug Ford, the Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario, that showed Pres. Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs ran during the World Series and angered Trump so much that Carney later apologized.
In 2026 Carney went to China to strike a trade deal, one that Trump seemed to endorse when he said, “If you can get a deal with China, you should do that.” But that is as far as the conciliation went. Shortly after, while Trump and Carney were both at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Carney delivered a stinging rebuke of U.S. policy, including on Greenland and tariffs, without ever mentioning Trump by name. He derided a new world order, saying:
It seems that every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.
Carney added, starkly, “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.” He received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his remarks, which The New York Times called “the most important foreign policy speech in years.” Trump took umbrage, calling Carney out in his own speech the next day at Davos, saying: “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, before you make your statements.”
Carney’s domestic popularity increased throughout his first year in office, and Canadians across the political spectrum demonstrated their support for the Liberal agenda. Several NDP and Conservative MPs defected to the Liberals, and when polled, a majority of NDP and Bloc Québécois voters said that they approved of Carney’s government. At a time when extreme political polarization had almost been accepted as the norm, Carney’s “Blue Grit” centrism found supporters even within the opposition; a third of Conservatives expressed satisfaction with the Liberal administration.
Quick Facts
In full:
Mark Joseph Carney
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Born:
March 16, 1965, Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada (age 61)
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On April 13, 2026, a trio of Liberal candidates swept their races in by-elections, and Carney secured his party’s first parliamentary majority since 2019. Less than a year after an election that had seemed—in the waning days of the Trudeau administration—all but certain to deliver a Conservative landslide, Carney had forged a stable Liberal government. With no general election scheduled to be held until 2029, Carney’s unorthodox path to a majority had nevertheless ensured that he now had ample time to pursue his “Canada Strong” agenda.