Former central banker Mark Carney, chosen to lead the Liberal Party of Canada at the party conference on Sunday, met with outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday to plan the next steps in Canada’s political transition, which will include Carney’s ascent to the prime ministership.
The transition process began when Trudeau announced that he would eventually resign as both prime minister and Liberal Party leader on January 6. Trudeau did not leave office immediately, or even set a firm date for his departure. Instead, he asked Canadian Governor General Mary Simon to “prorogue” Parliament until March 24. Proroguing essentially suspends Parliament without dissolving it, so the same lawmakers will return to their seats when the temporary suspension ends.
By proroguing Parliament, the deeply unpopular Trudeau ensured he could not be removed from office until his three-month “caretaker” stint as a lame duck prime minister ended. This gave the Liberal Party more time to plan its leadership succession.
Several candidates to become the new party leader – and therefore step in as prime minister once Trudeau resigned – stepped forward, including Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister whose falling-out with Trudeau dealt the final blow to his political career.
The Liberal Party instead turned to Mark Carney, who won the party’s internal election on Sunday with a stunning 85.9 percent of the vote, putting Freeland in second place with a mere eight percent.
Trudeau exited Parliament on Monday by physically carrying his seat out of the building, which is traditional, and sticking his tongue out at the cameras, which is not. His supporters generally found this amusing, while his detractors thought he was juvenile, disrespectful, and possibly unhinged.
Carney will become prime minister once Trudeau formally tenders his resignation from the executive office to Governor General Simon, the next big step in the transition process.
Carney and Trudeau presumably discussed the timing of the prime minister’s resignation on Monday, but they have not announced a date as of Tuesday afternoon. Most observers expect Trudeau to resign before the end of this week.
When prorogation ends and Parliament returns to session on March 24, it could instantly topple Carney’s interim government by calling for a new election. The latest date an election can be legally held is October 20.
Both the Liberal Party and the opposition seem eager to hold the next election quickly. The Liberals have surged in the polls ever since Trudeau announced his resignation and U.S. President Donald Trump launched a tariff war against Canada over border security issues. The Conservative Party of Canada was ahead by 20 points in the polls a month ago, but the latest polls on Tuesday showed them only one point ahead.
The Liberals may wish to capitalize on their polling surge as quickly as possible and also deprive the Conservatives of a chance to refocus their political artillery against Carney after years of hammering Trudeau. Conservatives and other critics, meanwhile, are grumbling that Carney is poised to float into the prime minister’s office without ever winning a popular election, and after years of complicity with Trudeau’s most unpopular policies.
“Liberals are trying to trick Canadians into electing them for a fourth term by replacing Trudeau with his economic advisor, Mark Carney,” Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre said on Sunday.
“It is the same Liberal team that drove up taxes, housing costs, and food prices, while Carney personally profited from moving billions of dollars and thousands of jobs out of Canada to the United States,” he charged.
“A vote for Carney is a vote for a FOURTH term of Liberal failures. His entire Liberal team is made up of the same people who ran Trudeau’s government and made our economy weak and vulnerable to President Trump,” Poilievre said on Monday.
