Liberals turn to transition plans after Mark Carney installed as new leader

OTTAWA — Liberal MPs are gathering on Parliament Hill this afternoon to huddle after the party selected its new leader, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.

Carney is heading into a day full of briefings and in the coming days will need to be sworn in as prime minister, tap his cabinet and sort out his party’s battle plans for the coming federal election — but the exact timeline for all these things remains unclear.

An early election call is widely expected to follow in the coming days or weeks after Carney is installed as prime minister, as the Liberal party looks to take advantage of the burst of momentum it gained over the past two months.

Like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him and even Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Carney won a resounding mandate from the party base — ultimately capturing 86 per cent of the vote.

Carney’s main rival Chrystia Freeland came in a distant second and said after the event that she always knew it would be an uphill battle, since the party establishment rallied around Carney’s candidacy.

The Conservatives slammed the result as a coronation and Poilievre called it a “sneaky” move to swap Trudeau with Carney so that the Liberals can try to win a fourth mandate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press

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Mark Carney, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, speaks after being announced the winner at the Liberal leadership event in Ottawa on Sunday, March 9, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

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