Renewables and climate champion Mark Carney picked as Canada PM to take on Trump and Musk

Mark Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada and of the Bank of England, a green energy evangelist and the man who headed Brookfield’s ill-fated attempt to turn Australia’s Origin Energy green, has been chosen to be the next prime minister of Canada.

The overwhelming vote in favour of Carney (85 per cent) among Liberal Party members means the former central banker will replace Justin Trudeau as PM – within a few days – and at a critical time for the country as it pushes back against the tariff and verbal assaults from US president Donald Trump and his co pilot Elon Musk.

Carney will be the first unelected person to be prime minister in Canada and is expected to call an election reasonably quickly. But what a few weeks ago seemed a poisoned chalice now looms as a massive opportunity.

The fortunes of the Liberal Party have taken a dramatic turn since the inauguration of Trump and his threats to impose tariffs and make Canada the 51st state of the US. The Liberals now run neck and neck with the Conservatives after trailing by more than 20 points in some polls.

Carney is best known for his central banking roles, where he guided Canada through the 2008 financial crisis and then the UK through Brexit, but he also rose to global prominence for his climate and renewables advocacy.

He was a UN special envoy on climate change, and after leaving the BoE joined Brookfield, where he was head of the transition and head of the team that lobbed an $18 billion bid for Australia’s Origin Energy, promising to accelerate its transition to green energy with a planned rollout of 12 GW of new wind, solar and storage.

That bid – despite being supported by the Origin Energy board – was undone by shareholders still attached and invested in the fossil fuel industry, but Carney remains a strong supporter of renewables, of carbon markets, and carbon border tariffs.

How he will deal with Trump and Musk is not yet known, but he has supported Trudeau’s retaliatory measures. His biggest rival for the Liberal leadership, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland – a good friend (he is godfather to her son) – had suggested imposing 100 per cent tariffs on Tesla EVs in response to Musk’s political antics.

Attacking Musk has become bipartisan policy since the Tesla CEO described Canada as “not a real country.” More than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for Musk’s Canadian citizenship to be revoked, and conservative Ontario premier Doug Ford has ripped up a $C100 million Starlink contract because “Ontario won’t do business with people hell-bent on destroying our economy,”

Carney was chosen because he was seen as the best equipped to deal with Trump and Musk, because of his demonstrated ability to deal with crises, and to take on the Conservatives.

“America is not Canada,” Carney said in his acceptance speech. “And Canada never, ever, will be part of America in any way, shape or form.

“These are dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust. We are getting over the shock but let us never forget the lessons – we have to look after ourselves and we have to look out each other. My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.”

Carney has proposed replacing Canada’s existing consumer carbon tax with an incentive program to reward green choices, but will keep a carbon tax on large industrial emitters. And he has promised to introduce a “carbon border-adjustment” to penalise high-polluting foreign imports.

In a January 2025 interview with US media personality Jon Stewart, Carney argued it was up to Canada’s oil industry to become cleaner rather than ordinary Canadians having to change their lifestyles.

But to implement those policies, Carney will have to beat Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre (the poll has to be held by October and will likely be held earlier) and the arguments bear some familiarity to those in Australia, which has to go to the polls by May.

“He (Poilievre) just doesn’t get it,” Carney said in his acceptance speech (which is worth a read for the sort of political oration that is lacking in Australia).

“He’s that type of lifelong politician, and I have seen them around the world, who worships at the altar of the free market, despite never having made a payroll.

“Now, in the face of Trump’s threats, Pierre Poilievre still refuses to get his security clearance. This, at a time when our national security is under threat as never before. He would undermine the Bank of Canada at a time of immense economic insecurity.

“Pierre Poilievre wants to shut down CBC and Radio-Canada at a time when disinformation and foreign interference are rising. He insults our mayors and ignores the First Nations when it’s time to build.

“He would end international aid while democracy and human rights are in peril around the world. And he would let our planet burn. Pierre Poilievre would let our planet burn.

“That’s not leadership, it’s ideology. It’s ideology that betrays what we as Canadians value … each other. And it is an ideology that represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how the economy works.”