Canada picks their new PM

[Grinkle]

Asking the Canadians here -

Is this somewhat surprising, or an obvious outcome? I don't follow Canadian politics much, but I have heard (and it says as much in the below article so I won't post a different reference) that US rhetoric really helped the liberal party and they otherwise might not have won the majority; do you agree with that?

Do you like this fellow? What do you expect his agenda to look like?

Ex-central banker to replace Trudeau as Canada's prime minister after winning Liberal Party vote

Former central banker Mark Carney will become Canada’s next prime minister after the governing Liberal Party elected him its leader as the country deals with U.S.

apnews.com

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Being a banker isn't exactly what I'd call a normal skillset I look for in a leader, but if he's going to manage a trade war. This feels like a good choice from that perspective.

 

[dlu]

the liberal party and they otherwise might not have won the majority

A couple of things.
Canada has NOT picked a new PM.
Instead, the Liberal party has chosen a new leader.

The Liberal party does not have a majority in the House of Commons - 153 seats out of 338 - a minority government.
This was not an election, only a Liberal party internal vote for the Liberal party leader, after Trudeau's resignation as party leader.
Marc Carney, as voted by the Liberals to be their leader, should supposedly become the Prime Minister of Canada - 'supposedly' since he is not an elected member of Parliament, and he is still just an average Joe like you and me, and should theoretically gain no parliamentary privilege.
Yet, he had been given an RCMP security detail and briefings in government matters while just campaigning, surely something not normally given to normal citizens.

It could be first instance of a leader of a democratic country not being elected in a riding, not having a seat in the Parliament, and attempting to run the show. It sure is for Canada.

Comment on the article,
The article mentions head of Bank of Canada and Bank of England, as if only those positions determine economic policy for a country. The fine fiscal recovery in 2008 may have been more to do with responsible Harper PM decisions at that time rather than what the article implies.
And of course the Chretien and Martin Liberals before that, should be given credit for their value of fiscal responsibility.

 

[dlu]

Being a banker isn't exactly what I'd call a normal skillset I look for in a leader, but if he's going to manage a trade war. This feels like a good choice from that perspective.

Trudeau was a drama teacher before politics.
And seems to be very good at politics - kissing babies and winning hearts of little old ladies.
An active person too running around all over the place.

Whether Carney has the smooze to get ideas across, I doubt it. He was the Liberal shoe in from day one - the cast off voting was just to go through the procedure to make it look somewhat legit for the favourite candidate. Maybe his wealth of connections round the world is more important than his banking knowledge.

 

[Grinkle]

Canada has NOT picked a new PM.
Instead, the Liberal party has chosen a new leader.

I see - thanks for helping me with that. It is true that the article says "will become PM" - do you agree that this is inevitable at this point?

I take from your posts that you don't support him - if I'm correct, would you say why? I know nothing about him, myself, except what I read in the above article.

 

[dlu]

He will become PM, but it is out of the ordinary.
Maybe Carney will be OK, maybe not. We will see.

I do not support the way at the Liberals are acting under Trudeau, and now perhaps Carney.
As I said, time will tell.

Trudeau prologued Parliament during this time of Liberal leadership review. Prologue means to cancel the sitting of the House of Commons, so any decisions by government cannot be questioned across the aisle ( govt sits on one side, the opposition the other while sitting ), no knew laws cannot be passed, since Carney is not a member of Parliament he will not be able to be questioned.. etc, etc. , not the way the system should actually work the way it was set up for checks and balances.
Question period, by the way, what you would see with the MPs bantering away, banging their desks, and hooting away, is just an hour or two per day but it is where legislation get tabled, and then passed back and forth from the House to the Senate 3 times before the Governor General can sign into law.
The Governor General, the actual head of state rather than the PM, appointed by the PM, is the acting representative of the Queen/King, usually a few year(5) stint ( provinces have a lieutenant Gov ). These are mainly figurehead positions.

Some similarities Canada/ USA
So who is unelected but of the govt - Carney, Musk.
Who acts as if infalliable and full of themselves - Trudeau, Trump
Who has 25% steel on Canada - US, China
Who has 100% tariff on select Canadian agriculture goods - China.
Who has 100% tariff on China EV - Canada, USA(under Biden)

They call it clown world and for good reason.

 

[Grinkle]

Some similarities Canada/ USA
So who is unelected but of the govt - Carney, Musk.
Who acts as if infalliable and full of themselves - Trudeau, Trump
Who has 25% steel on Canada - US, China
Who has 100% tariff on select Canadian agriculture goods - China.
Who has 100% tariff on China EV - Canada, USA(under Biden)

I've never heard these perspectives before - very interesting. I'm going to do some reading on how the Canadian government is structured.

 

[EricDMMiller]

He will become PM, but it is out of the ordinary.
Maybe Carney will be OK, maybe not. We will see.

It is not that unusual in our parliamentary system. If an election weren't so compelling, he would run in a by-election in a safe seat. Instead, he will just call an election to seek a mandate.

Trudeau prologued Parliament during this time of Liberal leadership review. Prologue

The term is 'prorogue'. It simply ends the legislative session without dissolving the current parliament. There is nothing unusual about it. It happens regularly every year when Parliament is out of session. This year, the current Liberal Party government realized they had lost their mandate under Trudeau, but it would have been chaos to call an election in January.

So who is unelected but of the govt - Carney, Musk.

There is nothing similar here. Carney was just elected as the head of one of Canada's major political parties. He will not be governing without a seat. One of his first official actions will be to call an election.

Who acts as if infalliable and full of themselves - Trudeau, Trump

I do not believe that Trump would ever voluntarily step down the way Trudeau has. You should watch some of Trudeau's recent media addresses. When he isn't fired up about what the US is doing, he appears quite humbled and disappointed that his political career is ending this way. I think he is an arrogant piece of work, but the two appear miles apart.

Who has 25% steel on Canada - US, China
Who has 100% tariff on select Canadian agriculture goods - China.
Who has 100% tariff on China EV - Canada, USA(under Biden)

I am not certain of the implication you are trying to make here. Countries have hundreds of tariffs on thousands of products from hundreds of countries. You can download the consolidated list of Canadian tariffs on imported products here:

Customs Tariff 2025

Customs Tariff 2025

www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca

It is a 47MB, 1,400 page PDF.

Quoting a couple selected from a country that Canada is in an active trade war with and China, who has long been treated as somewhere between a competitor, a rival, and an enemy, appears to be potentially misleading.

 

[dlu]

Quoting a couple selected from a country that Canada is in an active trade war with and China, who has long been treated as somewhere between a competitor, a rival, and an enemy, appears to be potentially misleading.

Unless one knowns the background,
Canada recently put a 100% tariff on EV's from China in line with the US, so that there would not be a back door into the NA market . In retaliation, Chinese tariffs levied on several Canadian agricultural products, and some other products.

Canada's major fallout with China occurred with the two Michaels incident in 2018. Both were apprehended in China again in retaliation, and held for 1018 days, due to Canada's arrest of Meng Wanzhou chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom Huawei. in Vancouver, pursuant to the extradition treaty between Canada and the United States, by the RCMP at the request of the US.

China/Canada relations were somewhat amicable, with some flare ups in relations, up until a few years after the younger Trudeau became PM, around the 2018 timeline, quite likely from things beyond his control- such as apprehension of other individuals by China, the USMCA, WTO disputes. China was becoming more aggressive to a middle power with close ties to the US. Canada was finding itself stuck in middle between China/USA disputes.

A more comprehensive history can be found at
( Although This article appears to be slanted towards recent events. )

Canada–China relations - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The article does not mention

Norman Bethune - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Chinese at the time appreciated the Canadian.
A bust was erected of Bethune in his honour in China.

So the new fangled establishment in China acts as not a world responsible player trying to pin Canada down. I put out a very short list of tariffs and whatever on Canada/China/USA relations, in sharp contrast to the benefits they have received from being in the preferred nation status category for duties and taxes on imported goods into Canada.

Makes one wonder the motivation of Trump in breaking up fortress NA.