Pitching himself as “the right type of change”, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney addressed a capacity crowd inside Joe Kool’s on Tuesday evening.
“What I’ve heard from Canadians is that they want change,” he told those in attendance. “And they wanted change before the orange man started, you know, going on.”
The crowd laughed at the reference to U.S. President Donald Trump just a day after Canada got a 30-day reprieve from U.S. tariffs.
After the event he told CTV News that his approach to the looming trade war would be to “leverage” the fact that Canada is both the biggest customer and supplier of goods to the United States.
“We need to reinforce the strength of this economy unashamedly. Canada is going to build. We are going to be masters at home,” he added. “We’re going to find some other trading partners around the world. And they’re starting to knock down our door because this is the strongest country in the world. This is the greatest country in the world.”
Carney argued that strengthening the Canadian economy will provide financial resources to tackle many of the challenges facing Canada.
He would also eliminate interprovincial trade barriers and ensure Canada meets its obligation as a NATO member to spend two per-cent of GDP on defense.
Carney is considered a frontrunner alongside Chrystia Freeland to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
He earned his bachelor’s in economics from Harvard University, before pursuing his master’s and doctorate from Oxford University, also in economics.
He was introduced at the London rally by Liberal MPs Peter Fragiskatos and Arielle Kayabaga.
