Today's Edition
Ottawa (AFP)
Canada's incoming prime minister Mark Carney struck a defiant note as the former central banker vowed to win US President Donald Trump's trade war, saying his country will "never" be part of the United States.
Carney lost no time standing up for "the Canadian way of life" after the Liberal Party overwhelmingly elected him on Sunday to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"We didn't ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves," Carney told party supporters in Ottawa.
"So the Americans, they should make no mistake, in trade as in hockey, Canada will win," he said.
"Canada never ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form," said the 59-year-old, who will take over from Trudeau in the coming days.
Carney may not have the job for long.
Canada must hold elections by October but could well see a snap poll within weeks. Current opinion polls had the opposition Conservatives as slight favorites.
Carney previously led both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. He soundly defeated his main challenger, Trudeau's former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who held senior cabinet positions in the Liberal government first elected in 2015.
Carney won 85.9 percent of the nearly 152,000 votes cast. Freeland took just eight percent of the vote.
Carney campaigned on a promise to stand up to Trump.
Trump has repeatedly spoken about annexing Canada and thrown bilateral trade, the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, into chaos with dizzying tariff actions that have veered in various directions since he took office.
Carney has portrayed himself as a seasoned economic crisis manager who led the Bank of Canada through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the Bank of England through the turbulence that followed the 2016 Brexit vote.
Forty-three percent of respondents said they trusted Carney the most to deal with Trump, with 34 percent backing Poilievre.
'Unproven'
Carney made a fortune as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before entering the Canadian civil service.
Since leaving the Bank of England in 2020, he has served as a United Nations envoy working to get the private sector to invest in climate-friendly technology and has held private sector roles.
He has never served in parliament nor held any elected public office.
