Federal Liberals elected Mark Carney to lead their party into the next election in a resounding first-ballot victory on Sunday, putting him on track to soon become the next prime minister of Canada.
This brings an end to an unusually short, two-month long leadership race called to replace outgoing leader Justin Trudeau and clears the path for an expected early election call.
“I feel like everything in my life has helped prepare me for this moment,” Carney said in his victory speech. “Two months ago, I put up my hand to run for leader because I felt we needed big changes — big changes guided by strong Canadian values.”
It’s not clear when Carney will be sworn in as prime minister. After the Liberal event, hundreds of his supporters attended a victory party at an Ottawa venue, where Carney encouraged the crowd to party tonight, then get to work tomorrow.
Carney captured 85.9 per cent of the vote, beating former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, who came in a distant second despite precipitating the race when she resigned from cabinet.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Freeland hailed the win as a sign the party is in great shape, but said of the final results that she “always knew this was going to be an uphill battle.”
“We saw many of my colleagues in cabinet looking at that and choosing not to run,” she said.
Freeland had previously said in a CBC Radio interview during the race that Carney was the preferred candidate of the prime minister’s office and that many Liberal establishment figures were organizing for his campaign.
Liberal MP Karina Gould and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis were also vying for the top job.
The Conservatives branded Carney’s sweeping victory as a coronation.
Leader Pierre Poilievre said at a rally in London, Ont. that the Liberals are pulling a “sneaky trick” to try to secure a fourth term by swapping Trudeau with Carney, who has advised the Liberal party on economics.
Carney exchanged blows with Poilievre in his victory speech, getting a big reaction from the partisan crowd, calling his opponent a “lifelong politician who worships at the altar of the free market — despite never having made a payroll.”
The candidates and evening’s speakers took on a patriotic tone as they took shots at President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats of annexing Canada.
The strongest turned out to be former prime minister Jean Chrétien, who addressed Trump directly: “From one old guy to another old guy: Stop this nonsense!”
“My mother taught us good manners,” he continued. “She would be ashamed of me if I treated anyone (the way) the president treated my prime minister and the president of Ukraine.”
Carney, who cast himself in the race as the best to handle the economy given his past experience as a central banker, arrived on the convention floor with his brother Brian Carney, his wife Diana, and other family members by his side, parting a sea of Liberal partisans as he made his way to the stage.
He vowed to fight back against Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state.
“The stakes have never been higher,” Carney said. “Our neighbours want to take us. No way!”
The crowd loudly booed Trump’s threat.
Freeland had arrived holding hands with her husband Graham Bowley with her family in tow to the song “Man Eater” by Nelly Furtado. She had branded herself as the best Trump fighter among the candidates.
“There is a remarkable wave of patriotism across our country,” Freeland said. “Canadians are ready to stand for Canada. Canadians are ready to fight for Canada. And I know all of us have one message for Donald Trump tonight: Canada will never be the 51st state!”
Baylis, a Montreal businessman, was the first of the evening to take shots at Trump’s economic threats against Canada.
“We will not be intimidated by a tweet and we will not be broken by a tariff,” he said.
Gould arrived waving and hugging supporters to loud applause and said in her remarks she’s proud to be a Liberal, touting accomplishments such as the Charter of Rights, child care and other hallmark policies.
Liberal party president Sachit Mehra said Carney won with 131,674 votes, Freeland netted 11,134 – just eight per cent of the vote.
Gould garnered 4,785, or 3.2 per cent, while Baylis came last at 4,038 or 3 per cent.
The party said 151,899 Liberals voted in the race. The party had announced in January that nearly 400,000 registered to vote.
In his farewell speech, Trudeau said he is deeply proud of everything the party has done over the past decade and singled out two people to thank: Adam Scotti, his official photographer, and Katie Telford, his longtime close friend and chief of staff.
Trudeau said Canadians have proven resilient as they face crisis after crisis, but they always emerge stronger.
“Canadians are showing exactly what we are made of,” he said.
(This report by Kyle Duggan of The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2025)
