NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The world’s most trusted Canadian has a much bigger role now. Mark Carney, who was bestowed, opens new tab with the accolade by Reader’s Digest magazine in 2011, will replace Justin Trudeau as the country’s next prime minister. As a transatlantic, elite educated economist, he plays against this era’s populist type. It also positions him as an agent of resistance.
Carney has managed through plenty of chaos. An alumnus of Harvard and Oxford universities, he worked at Goldman Sachs before joining the Bank of Canada in 2003, taking the helm during the worldwide financial crisis. In 2013, he became governor of England’s central bank and led it through the ructions of Britain’s vote to abandon the European Union. He also has been a vocal advocate for investing to protect against climate change, including as chairman of $21 billion money manager Brookfield Asset Management.
If the moniker “globalist” has a legible meaning, it would be to precisely describe Carney. For nearly two decades, he has been dealing with emergencies spawned by the very same system that molded him. From left-wing revolts, such as Occupy Wall Street, to reactionary movements like Brexit, technocratic world leaders have struggled to defend centrist policies. GDP per capita, denominated in constant U.S. dollars, has barely increased in Canada since 2011 and flatlined, opens new tab in the United Kingdom since 2007, according to the World Bank.
Donald Trump embodies the apotheosis of a resulting fury, which also has swept Italy, Argentina, Hungary and beyond. The U.S. president is threatening to destabilize the modern global trade system while lashing out at allies, including the country’s northern neighbor. There’s now a fledgling backlash to the backlash. Canadian politicians have promised to target U.S. companies, for example. Carney’s ruling Liberal Party once looked doomed to crushing loss in a federal election that must be called by October 20. Now, it is effectively the opposition.
The situation puts Carney in a unique position. He faces an intense and active fight to preserve the national economy, but as a G7 leader also will be pressed into playing an important role retaliating against those who would tear down the international order. Whether he wants the extra responsibility or not, Canada’s next prime minister will be representing the broad-minded Davos set as much as he is his party.
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CONTEXT NEWS
Canada’s Liberal Party elected Mark Carney as its new leader on March 9, putting him in line to replace Justin Trudeau as the country’s prime minister.
Carney, who formerly worked at Goldman Sachs and served as governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, won 85.9% of votes cast by party members.
The Liberal Party is the largest bloc in Canada’s lower legislature, the House of Commons. A new election to select members of the House must be held no later than October 20.
Trudeau announced his plans to resign on January 6.
Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Pranav Kiran
