Unelected banker-turned-politician Mark Carney is set to become Canada’s new prime minister, after members of the Liberal Party chose him to be their leader.
Carney, 59, will likely be sworn in sometime in the next few days or weeks, officially replacing the unpopular Justin Trudeau who’s led Canada for nearly 10 years.
His background is unorthodox.
He’s an outspoken climate activist, has had a long, varied career in banking and crucially, he has never held political office.
Despite his unusual credentials, he was rewarded with a whopping 131,674 votes, with Trudeau’s former finance minister Chrystia Freeland coming in a very distant second at 11,134 votes.
Canadians in the Liberal party have put their overwhelming support behind Carney – but he has never been on the ballot in a general election or been elected to office in a popular vote. He is now legally required to call a federal election before October.
The latest polls suggest that the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, enjoy a 10 percent lead over the Liberals.
Depending on when Carney decides to call elections, he could wind up being the shortest-serving prime minister in Canadian history.
While he’s in the spotlight, here’s all we know about the soon-to-be leader of Canada.
Mark Carney, 59, has decisively won the race to succeed Justin Trudeau as the leader of the Liberal party. He will face off against Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives in upcoming federal elections (Pictured: Carney gives a speech Sunday after winning the election)
Carney’s background and early career
Carney was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, on March 16, 1965, and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, from age six onwards.
Later, Carney got an American Ivy League education at Harvard University, where he majored in economics. He went to the prestigious college on a partial scholarship and played hockey for a brief time as the third-string goal tender.
He’s also been a lifelong fan of the Edmonton Oilers and has been seen in the NHL team’s merch.
In 1988, he graduated from the Boston-area university magna cum laude before working at investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.
The notoriously competitive firm had him on their roster for 13 years, and he spent those years traveling between their offices in London Tokyo, New York and Toronto.
During that time, Carney also attended the University of Oxford, where he earned a master’s degree in economics in 1993, then a Ph.D. in the discipline in 1995.
A young Carney (center) is seen in his Harvard hockey uniform. He was the third-string goal tender for the Ivy League team
Carney, a lifelong Edmonton Oilers fan is pictured with a McJesus jersey. This is the jersey for Oilers center Connor McDavid, who’s gotten the McJesus nickname for his dominance throughout his career
Pictured: Carney’s high school year book photo accompanied by some of his favorite memories
A young Carney is seen wearing a goalie’s uniform. He played on his high school team as well
His love life
While at the University of Oxford, Carney met Diana Fox, the daughter of Christopher Fox, a wealthy English pig farmer.
Fox previously told the Daily Mail that Diana was ‘something of an eco-warrior,’ adding that she ‘doesn’t like waste and never has.’
In 1995, Carney married Diana, who has built an impressive resume of her own over the years.
Like Carney, she is an Oxford-educated economist, and she specializes in studying the economies of developing nations.
Her climate change activism has also been a cornerstone of her career. In 2021, she was hired by Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, to advise them on global climate and energy policy.
She and Carney also went on to have four daughters: Sasha, Amelia, Tess, and Cleo.
Carney and his wife Diana pose for a photo with three of their young children
Carney and Diana appear side by side at Sunday’s Liberal party convention on Sunday
The married couple is pictured at the 2018 Wimbledon men’s tennis championships in London
The couple, seated next to their daughter Cleo, share a tender moment as Carney is about to give his victory speech
His children
Carney’s children have largely stayed out of his campaigning activities, except from his youngest daughter, Cleo.
Cleo, a freshman at Harvard University, introduced her father before he gave his first speech as prime-minister designate on March 9, 2025.
She also recorded an ad for her father, where she proclaimed that Carney ‘will make big polluters do more to fight climate change’ and that ‘he’s really good in a crisis.’
Like her mother and father, Cleo has centered environmentalism in her political outlook – and has been outspoken about the cause on social media.
She is a board member with the Bluedot Institute, the climate-focused nonprofit Bluedot Institute, and has produced articles, videos and even recipes to help people live more sustainable lives.
As part of her work with Bluedot, she spent two weeks at its exclusive internship on Martha’s Vineyard, the ritzy island where the Obamas and other A-list celebrities have multimillion-dollar mansions.
She is also a leader at Harvard’s Resource Efficiency Program, where she pursues initiatives to reduce waste and energy consumption.
Cleo also has a taste for the finer things in life, as she was seen rubbing shoulders with celebrities in the royal box at Wimbledon – London’s prestigious tennis grand slam event – in the summer of 2024.
No stranger to the camera, Cleo Carney has also boasted her own cooking show on Bluedot’s YouTube channel, dubbed ‘Cleo’s Clean Cooking.’
The youngest daughter of Mark Carney often shows off her healthy eating lifestyle – making seeded crackers with avocado, gluten free and vegan chocolate chip cookies, and flourless brownies made with Greek yoghurt.
Carney’s other three daughters have a lower profile than Cleo.
Cleo Carney is pictured next to her father in the royal box on day ten of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships in London
Cleo is pictured giving the introductory speech for her father ahead of him accepting his new post as prime minister
Cleo has made videos for the Bluedot Institute, a nonprofit, where she walks people through sustainable recipes
Cleo has also interviewed her father about climate change policy in her role as a student reporter for Bluedot
The father-daughter duo share the same Ivy League alma mater, Harvard University
Not much is known about Carney’s daughter Tess, but Amelia is a recent graduate from Edinburgh University in Scotland.
Amelia Carney, who posts about her holidays to Greece and New York City on her social media, posed in a teal floral dress next to her executive father on her graduation day.
The proud father, beaming ear to ear, posted the sweet snap on his social media in the summer of 2024.
Carney’s other daughter Sasha, 24, who graduated cum laude from Yale University with a degree in English and Gender Studies, uses they/them pronouns, according to their social media profiles. They previously went by the name Sophia.
Sasha Carney, who currently works as a freelance writer and reviewer in Brooklyn, New York, has previously posted about their mental health struggles online.
In a Facebook post from March 2020, Sasha complained about Yale maintaining a A-F grading scale despite COVID-19 being ‘a worldwide crisis.’
Sasha said ‘I’m a mentally ill international student’ and feared that if they were stuck inside much longer their mental health would ‘deteriorate.’
Mark Carney’s daughter Sasha previously endorsed left-wing Bernie Sanders in the US 2020 election, and has previously campaigned for incarcerated people’s rights.
Sasha Carney, 24, went to Yale University and uses they/them pronouns
Amelia Carney is seen next to her father at her graduation from Edinburgh University in Scotland
Carney is pictured reading a book to his two young children on his lap
His career in public service
After spending over a decade in private sector banking with Goldman, Carney made a switch in 2003, when he was named the deputy governor of the Bank of Canada.
He wasn’t number two at the bank for very long, with Governor David Dodge giving him the top job in February 2008.
This meant Carney was the man in charge of Canada’s economy right in time for the subprime mortgage crisis to spiral out of control.
Canada was largely spared the worst of the 2008 recession because of stronger banking regulations, but their economy was certainly affected.
One of Carney’s first acts was to cut interest rates by 50 basis points since in his own words: ‘Money and credit markets seized up.’
During the recession and in the year after was precisely when Carney’s star began to rise.
In 2011, he was voted ‘Most Trusted Canadian’ by editors at Reader’s Digest Canada, though he was ranked 19th by readers, according to Politico.
He was later dubbed a ‘rock star’ banker by Canadian magazine Maclean’s.
Carney finished out his term as the Governor of the Bank of Canada in 2013. Almost immediately, he was appointed to lead the Bank of England, making him the first ever to head the central banks of two different countries.
In 2019, while still at the Bank of England, he became the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. In that role, he fiercely advocated for the financial sector to invest in net-zero emissions.
As the head of England’s central bank, Carney was decidedly against the Brexit movement and warned that it would tank the economy.
In 2016, when the referendum for Britain to leave the European Union was gaining traction, Carney described Brexit as ‘the biggest domestic risk to financial stability.’
After members of parliament accused him of taking a position on the matter, Carney stepped down and was succeeded by Andrew Bailey.
Bailey was perhaps more careful with his words, saying in November 2024 that he takes no position on Brexit but insisted he has to ‘point out consequences.’
Carney is pictured with Stella McCartney, the daughter of Beatles legend Paul McCartney, and Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who was once the mayor of New York City. The three are seen attending the Bloomberg x Vanity Fair Climate Exchange gala dinner on December 11, 2018, in London
Carney poses with a redesigned British five pound note in 2016 with Winston Churchill’s portrait on it
Carney attends the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane, Australia, to discuss economic growth, free trade and climate change
Carney participated in the 2015 London Marathon, finishing the race in just under four hours
His transition to politics
Carney left the Bank of England in 2020 and served as an informal economic advisor to Trudeau’s government during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also held a number of climate-related roles during this time.
The Liberal party’s appetite for him as a leading figure was clear by the spring of 2021, when he was selected as the keynote speaker for that year’s convention.
As a former nonpartisan bureaucrat, his declaration that he would do ‘whatever I can to support the Liberal Party in our efforts to build a better future for Canadians’ caught many off guard.
Carney got even closer to the Liberals in September 2024, when he was named the chairman of the party’s Task Force on Economic Growth.
He announced his campaign to be the next Liberal leader on January 16, days before a battle-worn Trudeau announced his resignation.
Likely due to Carney’s short political life, he hasn’t talked much about his views on gender and LGBTQ issues.
However, he as the UN’s climate change envoy, he has said that ‘a more sustainable economy’ is only possible when the world makes ‘progress on gender diversity’
‘Women are often disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change, and there can be tremendous synergies between efforts to achieve gender equality and address climate change,’ he said.
‘Gender responsive climate investments can strengthen climate and environmental outcomes, open up business opportunities and be financially more effective,’ he added.
Carney (left) appears in a February 24 debate with the other candidates for Liberal leader. Chrystia Freeland (second from left) came in a distant second place
Carney and his predecessor Justin Trudeau hug one another at the Liberal convention. Trudeau is expected to hand the office of prime minister over to Carney in days or weeks from now
What he’s saying now
On Sunday, Carney made his first speech as the incoming prime minister, and he wasted no time in attacking President Donald Trump.
Trump has twice slapped across-the-board tariffs on Canada before largely reversing them.
Last week, Trump delayed his 25 percent levies on Canadian goods until April 2, setting Carney up for a battle with the president next month.
Carney said he would keep retaliatory tariffs on the US ‘until the Americans show us respect.’
‘He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t,’ he told voters at the Liberal Party convention.
‘In trade as in hockey, Canada will win.’
