Prime minister-designate Mark Carney met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday as the new Liberal leader takes the reins of power after a landslide victory in Sunday's party election.

Carney told reporters at Parliament Hill that the meeting was long and they discussed the most pressing issues of the day: Canada-U.S. relations and other matters of national security.

He said the government handover will be "seamless" and "quick" and he said his official swearing-in will happen in short order.

"The good news is you'll be seeing probably more of me than you want," he joked. "We'll be coming back soon."

A spokesperson for Carney announced Monday evening that the prime minister-designate divested all of his assets, other than his personal real estate, into a blind trust.

The signed blind trust document was submitted to the ethics commissioner when the results of the leadership vote were announced on Sunday.

"We have been actively working with the ethics commissioner and we have delivered a full and robust conflict-of-interest management plan," said the spokesperson in a statement. 

 

Liberal MPs say why they think Carney was elected party leader

 

A day after the Liberal Party elected a new leader, Employment Minister Steven MacKinnon, MP Judy Sgro, MP Kody Blois, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, MP George Chahal and Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson discuss what they hope to see in their new party leader and prime minister-designate Mark Carney.

Liberal MPs were jubilant Monday about Carney's landslide victory — he pulled in a stunning 86 per cent of the points, easily crushing his competitors.

"Mark Carney is what Canada needs to deal with the U.S.," said longtime Liberal MP Judy Sgro.

She said Poilievre doesn't have what it takes to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump as Canada stares down his 51st state taunts and the threat of economic ruin.

"He's 100 miles ahead of Pierre Poilievre. He has the economic knowledge that Canada needs to build our country up. Poilievre has nowhere near that kind of knowledge — he's like a little kid compared to Carney," she said.

That message was the lips on every MP who stopped to talk to reporters ahead of the caucus meeting.

Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, himself a trained economist, said Poilievre knows nothing about the economy and would be the wrong choice at this crucial inflection point.

Poilievre served as the party's finance critic under former leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole.

Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said the country needs an experienced person like Carney, a former central banker in both Canada and the U.K., to lead Canada through the trade war.

"Mark Carney is a very good man for this moment and I hope we can convince the Canadian people of that fact," McGuinty said.

Parties recruiting candidates

Liberal MP Kody Blois, the Atlantic caucus chair, said Carney's candidacy has been a shot in the arm for the party.

There are many more people wanting to run for the Liberals now than there were two months ago when Trudeau's popularity was at a low point, he said.

The party confirmed Sunday it already has 165 candidates lined up to run for the Liberals in the next general election.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, are well ahead in that count. A spokesperson said the party has 258 nominated candidates so far.

There are 343 ridings up for grabs — five more than the last federal vote.

Blois said Liberal "candidate recruitment is going very well" in his region in particular, with "some really strong people stepping forward."

"I really like the contrast of Carney against Pierre Poilievre who is resembling what we're seeing south of the border," he said, referring to Trump. "Carney is the mature voice we need in this moment."

"People are excited to run for us," added MP Karina Gould, who pulled about three per cent of the points in Sunday's leadership election.

Prime minister-designate Mark Carney's team has approached former Quebec premier Jean Charest to offer him a role, Radio-Canada is reporting. 

The nature of the position is unknown. But according to sources with knowledge of the discussion, Charest has no intention of becoming a minister.

CBC News is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. 

Charest, who was instrumental in setting in motion the Canada-European Union free trade agreement (CETA), is currently a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Council on Canada-U.S. Relations. 

In 2022, Charest ran unsuccessfully against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the party's leadership race. The former Quebec Liberal Party premier secured only 11.65 per cent of the popular vote compared to Poilievre who won 70.7 per cent. 

Charest was also a Progressive Conservative MP in the 1990s and the federal party's leader.

 

     How prepared is Canada for potential U.S. tariffs this week?

While it is important for allies of Canada to defend the country, "no one is going to stand up for us in the way that we have to stand up for ourselves," Charest said in an interview last week with CBC's Rosemary Barton Live.

"We have to come to terms with the fact that we're going to live in a very different world. And, by the way, that's true post-Trump," he said. "At the end of the day, it's about us. Our future. Set aside Mr. Trump. Set aside Mr. Starmer. What do we, as Canadians, want to build as an economy, as a society?"

When Mark Carney took home the Liberal leadership Sunday night, making him prime minister-designate, Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long took to social media with the message, "Well it looks like I'm back!"

Long, who announced two years ago that he wouldn't run in the next election and had pushed for Justin Trudeau to resign as prime minister, said Carney's win changed his mind.

The possibility of running again was set in motion, Long said, when Carney called him, shared his vision for the country and asked if Long would reconsider. 

"To be perfectly blunt and honest, nobody in the previous regime asked me to reconsider," he said, who has already filed papers to run in the riding now called Saint John–Kennebecasis.

Carney was elected Sunday night as Liberal Party of Canada leader with 85.9 per cent of the vote. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)

Carney was elected Sunday night as Liberal Party of Canada leader with 85.9 per cent of the vote. A date hasn't yet been set for him to take office and he has to first be sworn in by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon.

Long said he thinks Carney was viewed as a security blanket by many in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing tariff and annexation threats.

"I mean, the ballot question over the last couple months has changed from, you know, axe the tax, and Canada is broken, to who's best suited and who's best qualified to defend our country," he said.

"We are under, I would argue, the greatest threat that this country's ever had to its sovereignty and, you know, to its economy."

Information Morning - Saint John11:34 

Long on Carney

Long said he thinks Liberals and Conservatives can agree that Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada, has the economic experience to defend the country against Trump's threats. 

Mario Levesque, an associate professor in public policy at Mount Allison University, said he thinks the Liberals chose  Carney as leader because he is less associated with Trudeau, unlike two other candidates, MPs Chrystia Freeland and Liberal MP Karina Gould, for example, who both served in Trudeau's cabinet.

Mario Levesque, an associate professor in public policy at Mount Allison University, says Carney will need to continue dissociating himself from Justin Trudeau's Liberal government if he wants a shot in the next election. (CBC)

Levesque said if Carney wants to prove himself against Conservative Leader Pierre Pollievre, he will need to continue dissociating himself from the past Liberal government.

Levesque said Carney has already started removing himself from the past government, for example, by promising to make changes to the carbon tax. 

But Levesque said Carney will also need to be seen as having a heart by keeping many social programs in place, and also putting forth a "Canada-first" approach to combat the United States's economic attack.

Long says he thinks he thinks Liberals and Conservatives alike can agree that Carney has the economic experience to defend the country against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff and annexation threats. (Ben Curtis/The Associated Press)

With Carney's Liberal leadership win, Levesque said, Pollievre and the Conservatives also have an uphill battle to keep their current lead.

"I think for them, it's trying to identify who the public enemy number one is," he said.

"Before, it was the carbon tax and Justin Trudeau. Well, both are gone now. So what's their identity? 

"The problem with the Conservatives is they did not cultivate another identity outside of those things. So now they're trying to pivot and to attack Carney and his economic credentials."

Levesque says the Conservatives, led by Pierre Pollievre, pictured on the left, will need to establish a new identity now that Justin Trudeau will soon no longer be prime minister and Carney has already promised to make changes to the carbon tax. (Troy Turner/CBC)

Levesque said his prediction going forward is that after Carney is sworn in as prime minister and names his cabinet, he will call an election later in March.

If that happens, Levesque said it would make for an interesting spring with a possible federal election landing at the end of April or early May. 

"Lots to follow and lots to watch as well, but very, very busy, though," said Levesque.

"And of course, the wild card in all of this is, what will Trump do in the meantime?"