After nearly a decade in the position, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is stepping down. Former central banker Mark Carney, who has never held elected office, will become Canada's next prime minister after winning a landslide vote by the governing Liberal Party on Sunday. The 59-year-old Carney replaces Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remains prime minister until his successor is sworn in.
Brian Rushfeldt is the former executive director of a nonprofit in Canada that promotes the Christian worldview in politics, government, society and culture.
"We've gone from bad to worse, in my opinion," he tells AFN. "I don't think Carney is as psychotic as Trudeau, but he is as dangerous as Trudeau – and may be more dangerous because he has links to The World Economic [Forum]."
Carney, says Rushfeldt, has "links to all of the globalist people" and is "a great pusher of getting rid of all the carbon costs." The latter, according to the Alberta-based conservative activist, will be highly damaging to his province because Carney likely will be closing down its oil wells and gas plants.
"So, we just went from 'Trudeau bad' to 'Carney worse,'" he states.
While many political pundits predict Carney will call for a parliamentary election within days or weeks, Rushfeldt says he would be "shocked" if the incoming PM does that.
"Because we don't know why any man would be stupid enough to run for the leadership of a party, call an election two weeks later, and then lose the election," says Rushfeldt. "Carney is too smart and he's too much of an egotist to do that, in my opinion. I'll be quite shocked if there is an election even before this summer."
Regarding the recent give-and-take tariff battle between Canada and the U.S., Carney has made it clear he intends to fight and win any "trade war" with Donald Trump. "We didn't ask for this fight," he proclaimed after winning the Liberal Party leadership contest Sunday night, "but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves."
Just this morning, President Trump said that he will double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% for Canada. He said the increase of the tariffs – set to take effect on Wednesday – is a response to the price increases that the provincial government of Ontario put on electricity sold to the U.S.
