OTTAWA-Canada’s self-described ‘globalist’ new Prime Minister Mark Carney immediately aimed fire at President Donald Trump upon winning his party’s leadership contest last week.
Carney criticized President Trump during his acceptance speech when he won the Liberal leadership last Sunday, saying that Canada’s tariffs against the United States will remain until the Americans “show us respect” and added that Canadians “are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.”
He also tried to tie Trump to his main challenger. “Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer,” while “Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered.”
“Because a person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him.”
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FILE – Mark Carney, who has served as the governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, speaks at the Sustainable Finance conference, Nov. 28, 2024. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Having served as governor of two central banks – of Canada and the United Kingdom – he was also a senior executive at Goldman Sachs and served as the United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Never elected to any office before, Carney was sworn in on Friday to become Canada’s 24th prime minister.
He is expected to call an election this week in a bid to keep the Liberals in power, and for him, to win a seat in the House of Commons.
Count on the official opposition Conservatives, in a dead heat with the Liberals at 37% according to a recent Leger poll, to portray Carney as someone “not connected to the common man” and who has spent a fair amount of time outside Canada, Laura Kurkimaki told Fox News Digital. Kurkimaki served as deputy national campaign manager for the Conservative Party during the last federal election in 2021.
“Over the last five years, while Canadians have been lining up at foodbanks and experiencing a significant cost-of-living increase, he has not been in Canada,” Kurkimaki said.
Seen by detractors as out of touch, Carney, during a recent leadership debate, did not provide an answer when the moderator asked the candidates whether they knew the average cost of a week’s worth of groceries.
In an appearance on “The Rest is Politics” podcast last month featuring Alastair Campbell, former British prime minister Tony Blair’s press secretary, and past Goldman Sachs executive Anthony Scaramucci, Carney said that his “weakness is people will charge me as being elitist or globalist.”
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Mark Carney, then the vice chair and head of transition investing for Brookfield Asset Management Inc., speaks during the United Nations Climate Action: Race to Zero and Resilience Forum in New York, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Well, that happens to be exactly what we need,” he said, adding that he’s also “a pragmatist” and “a leader in crisis.”
When Scaramucci asked Carney how he would respond to attacks that he is “out of touch with the mainstream, common citizen in Canada,” the new prime minister said that most of his life in Canada “has been in service of Canadians.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also targeted Carney, who played hockey at Harvard and Oxford, after he was photographed playing goalie reportedly wearing high-end sneakers.
Leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, speaks during a ‘Spike the Hike – Axe the Tax’ rally in Edmonton, on March 27, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. On April 1st, fuel prices will rise due to the Federal Carbon Tax increase. Canadians anticipate paying more for gasoline, diesel, and propane starting April 1st. All provincial premiers are concerned about the impact on those already grappling with the cost of living. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Trying to be a normal guy playing hockey in $2000 shoes,” Poilievre posted on X.
Kurkimaki said the upcoming federal election campaign with Carney at the Liberal helm could be a replay of the one in 2011 when another “out-of-touch” Liberal leader – historian Michael Ignatieff, who came from the world of academia – lost his House seat, and his party recorded its worst-ever result in a general election that the Conservatives won.
Canada’s new prime minister earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Harvard University and went on to receive master’s and doctoral degrees in economics at the University of Oxford.
Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, officially announced his bid for the federal Liberal Party leadership at Laurier Heights Community League in Edmonton, Canada, on January 16, 2025. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Carney, who lived in the tony Ottawa neighborhood of Rockcliffe Park before becoming prime minister, also holds British and Irish citizenship. Earlier this month, he said that he had begun the process of renouncing both.
Along the way, the man whose looks were once compared to those of actor George Clooney made a fortune at England’s central bank alone. Carney earned $1.3 million, including pay, allowances and housing costs – the highest for the head of any federal reserve at the time.
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However, his current net worth might not be revealed any time soon. Before becoming prime minister, Carney divested his assets, “other than his personal real estate, into a blind trust,” a member of his team told CBC News. Under Canadian law, public-office holders need to divest their assets, such as stock options, either by selling them or having a trustee manage or sell them without, in this case, consulting Carney.
Carney’s spokesperson did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.