Ottawa:

Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney launched his bid to succeed Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader and prime minister on Thursday, becoming an instant front-runner in the race.

The 59-year-old Harvard- and Oxford-educated economist launched his campaign at a hockey rink in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up.

“I’m doing this because Canada is the best country in the world, but it can still be better,” Carney told a crowd of supporters.

Casting himself as an outsider and unconventional politician with strong economic chops, he vowed to get Canada’s economy “back on track” and defeat Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.

Carney is expected to go head-to-head with his friend, former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who is due to announce her leadership bid on Sunday.

Freeland’s surprise resignation in December after clashing with his boss over how to respond to Trump’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports sparked a political crisis that also led to Trudeau’s resignation last week. Saw announcing.

Whoever wins the leadership will automatically become prime minister and inherit a party that is 20 points behind Pierre Poilever’s Conservatives in the polls. They may also face snap elections in early March.

A relative unknown to most Canadians, Carney on Thursday quickly went on the offensive against Poilievre, accusing him of offering “bad ideas, simplistic and dangerous ideas.”

At the same time, the former UN special envoy for climate action acknowledged that Canada’s climate measures such as the carbon levy — which Poilievre wants to end — have not worked for all Canadians.

Meanwhile, in a recent appearance on “The Daily Show,” Carney hilariously pushed back against Trump’s unexpected plan for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state, telling host Jon Stewart: “We’re not going with you. are.”

“We can be friends,” he added. “Friends with benefits.”

Stewart responded that he felt like Carney was breaking up with him during the interview.

(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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