Who is Mark Carney?
Fort Smith, in the Northwest Territories, is where Mark Carney was born in 1965, and he grew up in Edmonton. His economics studies were at Harvard and Oxford. He worked at Goldman Sachs, then joined the federal Department of Finance and the Bank of Canada. Between 2008 and 2013 he was the Bank of Canada's Governor, which covered the global financial crisis, and from 2013 to 2020 he held the same title at the Bank of England. Later came a UN role as Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. He had never held elected office when he won the Liberal leadership in March 2025, after which he was sworn in as Prime Minister. The April 2025 election gave the Liberals a minority under him, and he became MP for Nepean. A majority arrived in April 2026, when five opposition MPs crossed the floor and the party took three by-elections on 13 April.
Previously: Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (since March 2025) · UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance (2019-2025) · Governor of the Bank of England (2013-2020) · Governor of the Bank of Canada (2008-2013)
Documented positions
- In March 2025 he cancelled the planned rise in the capital gains inclusion rate, saying he wanted to support entrepreneurs and private investment.Source: pm.gc.ca
- His first act as Prime Minister, in March 2025, was an order in council ending the consumer carbon tax; carbon pricing for industry stayed.Source: cbc.ca
- His government's One Canadian Economy Act passed the House of Commons in June 2025. It is intended to speed approval of major projects and to take away federal barriers to internal trade.Source: pm.gc.ca
- His lower immigration levels set 2026 targets of 380,000 permanent and 385,000 new temporary admissions, and he wants temporary residents to make up under 5 percent of the population by the end of 2027.Source: canada.ca
- Canada intended to recognise the State of Palestine in September 2025, he announced in July 2025, provided that the Palestinian Authority reformed, demilitarised and held 2026 elections excluding Hamas.Source: pm.gc.ca
- Middle powers should act together, he argues, and he points to new strategic partnerships with Qatar, China and the EU. He also has a plan to double defence spending by the end of the decade.Source: pm.gc.ca
- A November 2025 budget he presented projected a 2025-26 deficit of 78.3 billion dollars, with new capital spending offset by planned savings.Source: globalnews.ca
Record
His government has focused on lowering immigration levels, internal trade, major energy and infrastructure projects, and the dispute over trade with the United States. A memorandum of understanding with Alberta, signed in November 2025, lays groundwork for a new oil pipeline. Environment minister until then, Steven Guilbeault quit cabinet that day in protest. After talks failed, the United States put 50 percent tariffs on roughly 20 billion dollars of Canadian goods on 22 August 2026, and Carney said retaliatory tariffs would start on 8 September. Alberta voters rejected beginning a process toward separation in a referendum, and in October 2026 he welcomed that outcome.
Supporters point to faster project approvals, trade diversification, higher defence spending and the scrapping of the consumer carbon tax. Critics on the left object to the pipeline agreement and to changes in climate policy, whereas those on the right object to the deficit's size and to the floor crossings that produced a majority.
In their words
“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”
