Updated April 29, 2025 at 4:58 AM PDT
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney won a new term on Monday night, less than two months after he was first sworn into public office.
The central banker-turned-centrist politician became prime minister in mid-March, after winning the Liberal Party election by a landslide. He promptly dissolved parliament and called a snap election, which was legally required to be held sometime before October 20.
That election was framed as one of Canada's most consequential in decades — and turned out to be quite the comeback story. It was seen as a referendum on President Trump, with Carney — who has been openly defiant of the president — beating Pierre Poilievre, the head of Canada's Conservative Party.
Poilievre had led the polls for more than a year and was in a comfortable position heading into 2025. But things changed in January. First, longtime Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation after a decade in office and a sharp decline in approval ratings. Then, Trump took office.
Trump came after Canada with steep tariffs and repeated talk of making the country the 51st U.S. state. He prompted reciprocal tariffs and angered many Canadians (some of whom have canceled visits stateside, eschewed American products and booed the U.S. national anthem at hockey games).
"This has led to a resurgent nationalism, which is something that we haven't seen the likes of in a long time in Canada, that has really benefited the Liberal Party," Jamie Tronnes, executive director of the Center for North American Prosperity and Security, told NPR in March.
Carney's Liberal Party surged in the polls, boosted by rising anti-Trump sentiment and a lack of confidence that Poilievre — a populist whose rhetoric has drawn comparisons to Trump — would stand up to him.
Carney, on the other hand, has been fiercely critical of Trump and his trade war. After his victory in March, Carney vowed that "Canada never, ever, will be part of America in any way, shape or form."
"We didn't ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves, so the Americans, they should make no mistake: In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win," said Carney, himself a former collegiate hockey player.
Despite having never held public office, Carney's background in finance and seemingly unflappable demeanor ultimately convinced Canadians that he was the right man for that fight.
Carney won not only the prime minister race but — at age 60 — his first seat in parliament, representing a part of suburban Ottawa. Meanwhile, his conservative opponent, Poilievre, was voted out of his seat. It is still unclear whether Carney's Liberal Party has the necessary votes to hold a majority in parliament.
In his victory speech early Tuesday, Carney repeatedly took aim at Trump, saying at one point: "Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never ... ever happen." And, acknowledging the millions of people who did not vote for him, he called for unity in the face of the president's threats.
"Let's put an end to the division and anger of the past," he said. "We are all Canadian and my government will work for and with everyone."
Here's what to know about Canada's new leader.
He led the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England
Carney began his career in the private sector, spending over a decade in the London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto offices of Goldman Sachs.
He returned to Canada and entered public service in the early aughts. He was appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Canada — which oversees the country's monetary policy — in 2003, and the following year became a senior associate deputy minister of finance.
Carney served as the governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013, a period that included the global financial crisis.
He then ran the Bank of England — becoming the first non-Briton appointed to do so — from 2013 to 2020. During that time, he — unsuccessfully — warned Britons not to leave the European Union and oversaw the bank's response to the impacts of the Brexit referendum.
After leaving the Bank of England, Carney began serving as the United Nations special envoy on climate action and finance.
He's a graduate of Harvard and Oxford
Carney attended Harvard University, where he played goaltender on the ice hockey team.
According to a 2011 profile of Carney in Reader's Digest Canada, he intended to study English literature and math but developed a keen interest in economics while attending lectures by Canadian-American economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
He graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in economics and earned both a master's and a doctorate in economics from Oxford University.
One of Carney's Harvard roommates, fellow Canadian Peter Chiarelli, told the magazine that "even back in university, he wanted to make his mark in public service" and seemed to possess the qualities necessary to do so.
"When I met Mark, I remember saying to my friend, 'That guy's going to be the prime minister,'" Chiarelli said. "I bug Mark about it every year. And it may come true because he just cares so genuinely about what he's doing."
He is a father of four
Carney is married to Diana Fox Carney, a British economist with a focus on developing countries.
The two — who met at Oxford — have four daughters: Cleo, Tess, Amelia and Sasha. Carney thanked them all in his speech on Sunday.
"Without your support, I wouldn't be standing here," he said. "Without your examples, I wouldn't have a purpose. Without your love, I wouldn't have the strength that I need for what lies ahead."
While Carney's children have largely stayed out of the public eye, his daughter Cleo, a first-year student at Harvard College, introduced him onstage after his victory in March.
"I want Canadians to understand what kind of a man he is," Cleo Carney said, according to the Harvard Crimson. "He is unwaveringly supportive of the things he cares about. My dad invests in what matters. He expects nothing to come without hard work, and he is always ready to work hard."
He has triple citizenship — at least for now
Carney was born in Canada — in Fort Smith, a town in the Northwest Territories — but also holds British and Irish citizenship.
Carney's grandparents moved to Canada from Ireland, and he has called that Irish heritage "a big part of who I am," according to The Irish Times. He obtained Irish citizenship in the 1980s and became a British citizen in 2018 while running the U.K.'s central bank.
As a candidate for prime minister, however, he said he intended to renounce his British and Irish citizenships. Carney told reporters in March that he had written to those governments to begin the process.
He said that while some Canadian politicians hold multiple passports, he believes the prime minister should not.
"I'm not judging those other people," Carney said. "I'm saying as prime minister, I should only hold one citizenship."
He has been critical of Trump
Carney had been vocal in his disagreement with Trump throughout his campaign.
Earlier this year, he compared the president to the villain from the Harry Potter franchise while speaking to supporters in Winnipeg, saying he didn't want to dignify Trump's talk of annexation.
"When you think about what's at stake in these ridiculous, insulting comments of the president, of what we could be, I view this as the sort of Voldemort of comments," Carney said. "Like I will not even repeat it, but you know what I'm talking about."
He had even sharper words during his March victory speech, accusing Trump of attacking Canadian workers, families and businesses by putting "unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell, on how we earn a living."
Carney pledged that his government would maintain tariffs "until the Americans show us respect … and [make] credible and reliable commitments to free and fair trade."
Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat who's now with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, told NPR's Morning Edition on Monday that he believes Carney will both challenge and listen to Trump, saying Carney will "make the case for Canada and why this makes no sense, and I hope Mr. Trump pays attention."
Robertson, who first met Carney in the 1990s, said the incoming prime minister has a deep sense of public service and a big network from his years in finance.
"Safe hands," he added. "He wouldn't be accused of being particularly charismatic, but he wants to put the emphasis on growth, which is what Canada needs today if we're going to pay for all the things that you need, like public services and defense."
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