On March 14, 2025, Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th Prime Minister (PM), succeeding Justin Trudeau, who led the Liberal Party for the past nine years.
The Varsity broke down Carney’s background, his plan for Canada, and what U of T community members think.
Carney’s education and financial career
Born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, to two teachers, Carney was raised in Edmonton, Alberta, before pursuing a bachelor of economics at Harvard University. He later earned a masters and PhD in economics at the University of Oxford.
Unlike his challengers for the Liberal Party leadership, Carney stands out for having no history of holding elected office. Instead, he boasts a long and successful career in finance and banking.
Most notably, Carney served as governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013, beginning his tenure during the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. His actions as governor are widely credited with shielding the Canadian economy from the worst of the crisis and setting a global example.
In 2013, Carney was appointed Governor of the Bank of England, serving a seven-year term and guiding the bank through the economic uncertainty of Brexit. In 2020, he became a prominent advocate for solutions to climate change, taking the role of United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance.
Path to prime ministership
The first serious whispers of Carney’s political ambitions date back to 2020, when he served as an informal advisor to Trudeau on the government’s COVID-19 response. Around this time, Carney was regarded within the Liberal Party as a leading contender for finance minister, or a potential future PM candidate if Trudeau stepped down.
On September 9, 2024, Trudeau appointed Carney to chair the Liberal Party’s Task Force on Economic Growth, praising his “unique ideas and perspectives” in advancing the Canadian economy — a goal that now sits at the forefront of Carney’s policies as PM.
Following Trudeau’s resignation on January 6, 2025, Carney emerged as the leading candidate for the Liberal Party leadership. Running against former MP Frank Baylis, Liberal House Leader Karina Gould, and former Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland, Carney secured a landslide victory, winning all 343 ridings — an important sign of nationwide Liberal unity as Canada faces annexation threats and a trade war from Washington.
CBC described his campaign as “largely a referendum on who is best to take on [the] U.S. President.”
The plan
Carney’s policy plan focuses on building the “strongest economy in the G7” and addressing familiar economic challenges faced by Canadians — such as affordable housing and access to higher-paying jobs — through new approaches.
In his first move as PM, Carney cut the carbon tax, a policy many Canadians found ineffective. Carney plans to implement a new approach that incentivizes consumers to make sustainable choices while shifting the burden of the climate crisis to “big polluters” but doesn’t specify who.
Another key aspect of Carney’s approach is his plan to spend less and significantly expand Canada’s investment in infrastructure. Carney, who believes the federal government’s spending has been “wasteful and ineffective” argued that his investment will “create great jobs, higher incomes,” and yield downstream benefits for healthcare and social services.
He outlines four major areas for investment in infrastructure to strengthen the economy: the construction of millions of new homes; clean energy technology; building competitive data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure to position Canada at the forefront of the AI revolution; and the “development of ports, supply chains and new trade corridors” to diversify the economy and reduce Canada’s reliance on the United States.
U of T reacts
Carney’s election “is most definitely a strategic choice by Liberal party members,” wrote Professor Elizabeth McCallion, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, in an email to The Varsity. “[T]hey want someone who is not too connected to Trudeau in the mind of the public, since in order to stay in power, they’ll need to move past the ‘Trudeau era’ of politics that many Canadians have soured on.”
When asked about Carney’s lack of experience in holding public office, those interviewed by The Varsity did not consider it to be a significant concern.
“He’s not a career politician, but he’s got experience working in government,” McCallion wrote. “He knows how the institutions work, but it remains to be seen whether he’s adept at campaigning and responding to Canadians’ needs.”
“[P]oliticians come from all walks of life with their own expertise,” wrote Lisa Doan, a fourth-year sociology student in an email to The Varsity.
Jacob Axford, a fifth-year urban geography student, agreed and wrote in an email to The Varsity that, “I would rather support someone with less experience who has ideas that I agree and empathize with than a career politician who I disagree with on everything.”
However, students’ reactions to Carney’s policies are mixed. In response to the end of the carbon tax, Axford said he’s “never been a huge fan,” believing that “lifting [the tax] from individual consumers is a good idea,” but he stressed that the money should “continue going to people who are directly affected by the environmental damage they cause.”
Doan felt that for her and others, “who have to do part-time work to survive at UofT, Carney’s recent decision to scrap the consumer carbon tax was unfortunate… [T]he carbon rebates were supplemental to support the expenses I face on a monthly basis.”
With an election on the horizon, however, all of Carney’s plans are off the table if he cannot rally voters. Doan pointed out that to secure “a strong positive mandate,” as Carney said, he will need “to sway voters from other left-leaning parties like the NDP and the Green [Party], as well as Bloc Québécois to maintain a majority vote… I believe strategic voting in this election is more crucial than ever.”
