Mark Carney is being thrown in at the deep end barely a week after his victory in Canada’s general election, as he prepares for a high-stakes meeting with Donald Trump.
The former banker might want to use his White House visit to thank the US President – Trump’s threats towards Canada have been widely credited with securing his win.
But in speeches during the campaign and after the vote, Carney has made it clear that he doesn’t see repeated lines about his country becoming the 51st state as a joke.
Today’s meeting with also test his skills as a diplomat – he may be leading the party that’s been in charge of the world’s second-largest country since 2015, but he’s a complete newcomer to politics.
In fact, he had never served in elected office before becoming the 24th Prime Minister of Canada in March.
Though he may be a little green when it comes to politics, the 60-year-old has spent a lot of time in the public eye. Here’s all you need to know.
What will Mark Carney talk about with Trump?
There’s no shortage of important topics for Mark Carney and Donald Trump to discuss – but two issues tower above the rest.
The first is trade, and tariffs in particular.
Trump has placed a 25% levy on all imports to the US from Canada with a few exceptions, as he did with Mexico. Canada reciprocated with its own tariffs on imports from the US.
While the trade war has not escalated like the one between the US and China, there’s appetite for a deal that could lower prices in both countries.
The second main topic of conversation could be Trump’s repeated threats to annex Canada and turn it into the ’51st state’.
In a recent interview, the president suggested he was not going to use military force to take over the neighbour to the north – an extraordinary clarification for him to be required to make.
Carney has pushed back strongly against those plans, and may use the White House meeting to reassert his nation’s sovereignty.
Who is Mark Carney’s wife?
Mark Carney met his English wife, Diana Fox Carney, when they were both members of the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club.
According to the Times, Diana Fox was in Cheltenham in 1965 and went to boarding school at Marlborough College – which was later attended by Catherine, Princess of Wales.
The couple married in 1994 and lived in Primrose Hill, north London, for several years before moving between New York and Toronto, then eventually settling in Ottawa.
Diana is also an economist and has written several books.
Does Mark Carney have children?
Together, the couple have four daughters named Cleo, Tess, Amelia and Sasha.
Cleo Carney, who studies at Harvard University, introduced her father to the stage for his first speech as leader of the Liberal Party following his election.
She told the audience: ‘My father is, to his core, a man of commitment. He is unflinchingly dedicated to what matters.
‘Canadians care about actions, and my father is a man of action.’
Is Mark Carney French?
Mark Carney is not French, and he does not come from one of Canada’s French-speaking areas.
He was born in the remote town of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, far enough north that the night does not get fully dark on the summer solstice.
Carney soon moved south to the city of Edmonton in Alberta and was brought up there. He remains a fan of local ice hockey team the Oilers.
On the campaign trail, his limited ability in French came up frequently but does not appear to have hurt him – even in French-speaking Quebec.
What is Mark Carney’s career background?
Until this year, Mark Carney’s entire career was dedicated to economics. As the only person to serve as head of the central bank for two different countries, he’s one of the world’s best-known economists.
In February 2008, he was picked as the new governor of the Bank of Canada, just in time for global markets to be rocked by the financial crisis.
Five years later, he was chosen to become the governor of the Bank of England – the first foreign head of the UK’s central bank in its 320-year history. He served in the role throughout the disruption of Brexit, and he left at the beginning of the Covid lockdown in March 2020.
It’s this reputation as a cool head in a crisis that appeared to win over many Canadians, as the country faces massive disruption from the tariffs and other policies.
In one of the Liberal leadership debates, he said: ‘In a situation like this, you need experience in terms of crisis management, you need negotiating skills.’
Carney won the contest for the party leadership sparked by the resignation of long-serving PM Justin Trudeau with a stunning 85.9% of the vote.
Shortly after taking over the reins, with his party on the ascendancy in the polls, he called a snap election.
This article was first published on April 28.
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