Close X
Sunday, March 16, 2025
ADVT 
National

Mark Carney secures four more key endorsements in race to become Liberal leader

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 23 Jan, 2025 11:04 AM
  • Mark Carney secures four more key endorsements in race to become Liberal leader

Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney has secured the endorsements of four more current and former cabinet ministers.

On Tuesday, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Minister Gary Anandasangaree and former housing minister Sean Fraser all threw their support behind Carney on social media.

"He's literally one of the most respected voices on the economy worldwide, and he's a fundamentally decent person who cares an awful lot about the country that we all love," Fraser said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter.

The Liberals will choose a new leader on March 9 to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced this month he will resign following immense pressure from his caucus.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault also endorsed Carney Tuesday while speaking to reporters at the Liberal cabinet retreat in Montebello, Que.

"I've known Mark for many years. We've worked together on issues of green energy, transition, fighting climate change and the role of the financial sector in fighting climate change," Guilbeault told reporters, adding he's had no discussions with Carney about a potential cabinet post.

"I will continue to work with Mr. Carney to ensure that if we don't go ahead with the consumer carbon price, that we have something else in place that will both help Canadians with affordability, but that will help us to achieve our 2030 targets."

While Carney hasn't said explicitly he'd drop consumer carbon pricing if he wins the leadership, he has hinted at a policy shift by saying that if the carbon price is going to go, it must be replaced “with something that is at least, if not more, effective.”

His stance on industrial carbon pricing is less clear.

"If we don't move ahead with consumer carbon pricing, one obvious answer would be to tighten a system that we already have ... for large polluters in the country," Guilbeault said.

Asked how Carney's stance on carbon pricing compares to that of his leadership rival Chrystia Freeland — the former finance minister has indicated she would abandon consumer carbon pricing because it's unpopular with Canadians — Guilbeault said he wasn't aware of Freeland's plan and couldn't comment on it.

"What I can say is the person, in my view, by far the best placed to articulate a concrete plan on the question on the role of carbon pricing and the role of financial markets in the fight against climate change is Mark Carney," Guilbeault said in French.

The Conservatives issued a release saying that Guilbeault’s support for Carney is “proof” that the former banker would be aligned with Trudeau’s policy on carbon pricing.

“The fact that Guilbeault endorsed Carney is a clear signal that Canadians will get stuck with the devastating carbon tax if Carney ever becomes prime minister,” it reads, noting that Carney has a long record of advocating for carbon pricing.

In addition to Carney and Freeland, four other individuals have declared an intention to run, including former Government House leader Karina Gould, current Liberal MPs Chandra Arya and Jaime Battiste, and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis.

Carney appears to be ahead of the pack on key endorsements, with at least eight current or former cabinet ministers in his corner now, including Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan, who backed him earlier this week. At least 20 other Liberal MPs have also backed Carney at this point.

Freeland has the backing of more than a dozen backbench Liberal MPs and at least seven current or former cabinet ministers, including Health Minister Mark Holland, Justice Minister Arif Virani, Citizens Services Minister Terry Beech, and Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier and former ministers Dan Vandal, Randy Boissonnault, and Marie-Claude Bibeau.

MPs Lisa Hepfner and Pam Damoff have both endorsed Gould, and attended her public launch on Sunday.

Candidates have until Thursday to declare their intention to run and pay an initial, refundable $50,000 deposit. As of Tuesday no candidates had paid the fee.

The Liberal party also says it has tweaked the financing rules for leadership candidates ahead of that deadline. The party says that because banks sometimes issue holds on cheques, it will accept a sworn affidavit stating that a candidate has enough money to cover the deposit, pending the release of any money that's being held up.

MORE National ARTICLES

Home invasion in Sicamous

Home invasion in Sicamous
Mounties in Sicamous say a man has been charged with multiple offences for breaking into a home in Malakwa last Saturday. They say the man was allegedly armed with a weapon and got into a confrontation with the residents inside.

Home invasion in Sicamous

Trudeau to attend events marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland

Trudeau to attend events marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will fly to Poland next week for events marking 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Trudeau's office says he'll be travelling Sunday to Tuesday and visiting the site of the Nazi regime's largest camp, where more than one million people were murdered during the Holocaust.

Trudeau to attend events marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland

Ottawa signs deals to house homeless in 11 municipalities in Ontario, Saskatchewan

Ottawa signs deals to house homeless in 11 municipalities in Ontario, Saskatchewan
The federal government has signed deals with nine additional municipalities in Ontario and two in Saskatchewan to address homelessness. The agreements are worth a combined $91 million over two years and are meant to support the municipalities' encampment response plans.

Ottawa signs deals to house homeless in 11 municipalities in Ontario, Saskatchewan

Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan says he won't run in next election

Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan says he won't run in next election
Another member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's front bench has decided to step away from federal politics at the next election. Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan says his name will not be on the ballot when the next election is held, though he says he will remain a dedicated member of the Liberal party.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan says he won't run in next election

Canadian doctor says WHO headquarters 'stressed, devastated' as Trump orders U.S. exit

Canadian doctor says WHO headquarters 'stressed, devastated' as Trump orders U.S. exit
Staff at the World Health Organization are "devastated" by President Donald Trump's executive order to pull the U.S. out of the agency, a Canadian global health specialist says. Dr. Madhukar Pai, the Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health, is at the WHO headquarters in Geneva this week for meetings about tuberculosis and was there at the time Trump signed the order Monday.  

Canadian doctor says WHO headquarters 'stressed, devastated' as Trump orders U.S. exit

Immigration minister says U.S. is still safe for refugees despite Trump's rhetoric

Immigration minister says U.S. is still safe for refugees despite Trump's rhetoric
Refugee advocacy groups are pushing back as the federal immigration minister says Ottawa still regards the U.S. as a safe country for transgender refugees under President Donald Trump. Trump signed executive orders on the first day of his new term to make recognizing gender based on biological characteristics U.S. government policy, and to pause the refugee program.

Immigration minister says U.S. is still safe for refugees despite Trump's rhetoric