Canada will soon have a new prime minister: Mark Carney.
On March 9, Mark Carney was elected by the members of the Liberal Party to be its new leader. He replaces Justin Trudeau, who stepped down after more than 12 years as the Liberal leader.
In this case, the person who is the head of the political party that is in power in Canada—currently the Liberals—also takes on the role of prime minister. Justin Trudeau was prime minister of Canada for nearly 10 years. Mark Carney will soon take over as prime minister.
Carney won by a landslide
Carney won the Liberal leadership in a landslide, with nearly 86% of Liberal party members who voted choosing him. He won over second-place Chrystia Freeland, who received just 8% of the votes. Karina Gould received 3.2% of the votes to come in third.
Carney is not officially Canada’s prime minister yet. First, Justin Trudeau must visit Canada’s governor general, Mary Simon, who represents King Charles, to ask to step down as prime minister. Then, the governor general will invite Carney to a meeting where she will ask him to accept the role of prime minister.
Until all this happens, Mark Carney is known as the prime minister-designate.
Federal election expected to be called soon
It is expected that after he is sworn in as PM, Carney will call a federal election in the near future. At that time, Canadians will vote for their local Member of Parliament (MP) and the political party with the most MPs will be in power. Canadians do not vote directly for prime minister.
Mark Carney was born in Canada’s Northwest Territories and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. He was the governor (head) of the Bank of Canada (Canada’s central bank) from 2008 to 2013 and he was the governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. In those positions, he was responsible for each country’s central bank during a time of financial crisis.
Carney has a doctorate (a PhD) and a master’s degree, both in economics, from the University of Oxford in the UK. Carney was a special advisor to Prime Minister Trudeau during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has never held elected office.
Think and Discuss
Before reading this article, what did you know about how the Canadian election system works? What three things did you learn about it from this article?
Why do you think Mark Carney needs to ask King Charles’ permission to become prime minister? Do you think Carney and Trudeau will receive the king’s permission to do what they want to do? Why or why not?
What do you know about Mark Carney? You can find more information about his next steps on the CBC Kids News website.
Make a note of three things you know about Governor General Mary Simon. You can use this article to learn more about her: https://kids.kiddle.co/Mary_Simon
More information
What’s a “political party”? For information about Canada’s federal election process, including an explainer about what political parties are, read our TKN article from 2011, “Your Political Primer to the Canadian Election.”
TKN article about the first time Justin Trudeau became Canada’s prime minister: “Canadians Elect Liberal Majority Government, Justin Trudeau as PM.”
TKN article about governor general Mary Simon: “Mary Simon to be Canada’s next Governor General.”
This CBC video, Why Mark Carney isn’t prime minister right away, by Avneet Dhillon outlines the process involving Trudeau stepping down and Carney stepping in as PM.
