Mark Carney, a former central banker, and Harvard and Oxford alumna won his Liberal Party’s election in a landslide on Sunday.
He is set to replace Justin Trudeau, the long-standing Canadian PM who first took office on 4 November 2025. Trudeau was forced to step down after the Liberal Party started crashing in the polls, with his acknowledging that it needed new leadership and new policies, including economic ones.
Carney is slated to lead the country until the federal elections on 20 October 2025.
Here’s where he stands on top issues.
POTUS Donald Trump
The current relations between Canada and the US are subpar. Following his victory in November 2024, Donald Trump launched a full-scale attack on Canada, which he calls the 51st US state, and dubbed Trudeau “the governor of the 51st state.”
Carney has already addressed Trump’s insistence on Canada becoming part of the US, which appears to be genuine, and stated that Canada will never be part of the US
“The Americans want our resources, our land, our water, our country… Canada will never be part of America in any way, shape or form,” he said.
He added that the US president had brought “dark days” from “a country we can no longer trust” and that he was “proud” of Canadians resisting the US “with their wallets.”
At the same time, Carney believes that Trump only respects power, meaning that any attempt to mollify him is useless. Accordingly, Ottawa is not planning to cave in to Trump’s demands as he launched a tariff war on Canada.
As of 4 March 2025, the United States has imposed a 25% tariff on most imports from Canada, with a 10% tariff specifically on Canadian energy products. In retaliation, Canada has implemented 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of US goods. It plans to extend these measures to an additional $125 billion in the coming week.
Ukraine and defense
Mark Carney’s position on Ukraine appears to align with Ottawa’s current policy of providing help to Ukraine.
On 1 March he tweeted that Canada’s support for Ukraine remains steadfast.
“Canada is Ukraine’s steadfast ally. President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people have our admiration for their incredible courage. As Prime Minister, I will ensure Canada continues to remain steadfast with Ukraine in defence of freedom against Russian aggression,” he wrote.
Yet, he did not pledge an increase in Canada’s support for Ukraine, which, despite being considerable, falls short of the country’s real capabilities.
In December, Roger Hilton of Globsec told EP that “there’s a deep inventory of decommissioned vehicles and military equipment that Ukraine would be more than happy to take on,” adding that “and for the life of me, I’m unclear why this still hasn’t been delivered.”
He did, however, pledge to hit the 2% defense spending target by 2030. Canada’s NATO spending remains below the benchmark of 2%, which especially matters since Canada has one of the largest GDPs among NATO member states, making its contribution considerable money-wise.
Pierre Poilievre
Even though Carney has yet to take office, he’s effectively entering the lame-duck period as he’s slated to face Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party already this fall.
Until recently, the Liberal Party had been trailing in the polls. In mid-January, Poilievre led the Liberals 47 to 20 percent. However, fresh data shows that the Liberals and the Conservatives are now neck and neck, with the Conservatives just 3 points ahead of the Liberals, 37 to 34 percent.
In his victory speech, Carney touched upon his opponent saying that “slogans are not solutions,” implying that Poilievre’s rhetoric lacks substantive policy proposals.
Like Carney, Poilievre supports Ukraine. On the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he reiterated that any peace agreement must involve Ukraine directly, deeming their exclusion from such negotiations as “unacceptable.”
However, has a mixed track record of supporting bills favorable to the war-torn country. In November 2023, the Conservative Party of Canada voted against Bill C-57, which aimed to implement an updated free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine. The bill passed with 205 votes in favor and 109 against. They claimed that the agreement would impose a carbon tax on Ukraine, which is reportedly false.
Poilievre also believes that Canada should increase its NATO spending but did not commit to any timeframe, saying that he “doesn’t make promises he can’t keep.”
