The former governor of the Canadian and British central banks announced he was running to become head of the Liberal Party and prime minister.
Mark Carney, one of the world’s most prominent central bankers and an evangelist of green investment, announced on Thursday that he was running to be leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and the country’s next prime minister. If he wins, he would lead the party into national elections this year.
“I’m here to ask for your support,” Mr. Carney, 59, said as he announced his candidacy in Edmonton, Alberta. “I’m here to earn your trust.’’
Mr. Carney also said the country faced major challenges that he was prepared to take on. “My generation of Canadians is lucky,” he said. “We had a good time. A time to prosper. The system that our parents built worked well for us. But those good old times, my friends, are over. Our times are anything but ordinary.”
Canadian politics have been in turmoil since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement this month that he intended to step down, leaving the job after nearly a decade in power amid the steady fading of his once starry global profile.
Mr. Trudeau leaves a treacherous legacy to any successor: The party is in tatters, with the opposition Conservatives leading the Liberals by more than 25 percentage points in recent opinion polls as voters have grown disenchanted with the country’s direction.
Mr. Carney, who served as an informal economic adviser to Mr. Trudeau during the pandemic, is seeking to portray himself as an outsider and distance himself from Mr. Trudeau’s recent policy struggles, including soaring housing costs, an overstretched health care system and high prices for everyday goods.