5 Facts About Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: From Bitcoin To Hockey

Canada is expected to have a new prime minister with former central banker Mark Carney winning the country's Liberal Party election to replace outgoing Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, who announced his intention to step down in January.

Carney has had a fast rise in Canadian politics but also enters the key leadership role without ever holding office.

Here are five facts about Carney.

1. Never Held Office: Carney becomes the Liberal Party's leader and the next Canadian prime minister without holding public office before. The former central banker enters the key leadership role with vast experience in finance, a position that may have helped him win the election.

In an acceptance speech, Carney focused heavily on U.S. President Donald Trump, tariffs and a potential trade war between the two North American countries.

"My government will keep the tariffs on until the Americans show respect," Carney said. "In the meantime, we will make sure all the proceeds — all the proceeds from our tariffs — will be used to protect our workers."

While the U.S. has paused tariffs on Canada, several retaliatory tariffs put into place by Canada are currently in effect.

Carney also publicly criticized Trump's call to annex Canada and make the border country a state.

"Canada will never ever be part of America, in any way, shape, or form."

Carney has also previously compared Trump to Harry Potter villain Voldemort.

"When you think about what's at stake in these ridiculous, insulting comments of the president, of what we could be, I view this as the sort of Voldemort of comments," Carney said.

Before entering politics, Carney was the governor of the Bank of Canada (2008 to 2013) and the Bank of England (2013-2020). During his time leading monetary policy, Carney was praised for his handling of the 2008 financial crisis, the U.K.'s exit from the European Union and the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Carney was famously the first non-British person to be governor of the Bank of England.

Along with his roles leading the national banks, Carney also spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS).

2. College Goalie: Carney becomes the first graduate of Harvard College to become the Prime Minister of Canada with two others in the role having received past master's degrees from the prestigious American university.

While at Harvard from 1984 to 1988, Carney was a member of the university's hockey team where he was a goalie.

"He was the best backup goalie Harvard ever had," fellow Harvard student and Silver Lake co-founder Glenn Hutchins once said of Carney.

Carney also played goalie while at Oxford working on his doctorate, where he was a co-captain of the hockey team.

3. Bitcoin Stance: Fans of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) in Canada may not want to hear about Carney's past comments on the sector.

While Trump has ushered in a new cryptocurrency era in the U.S. with a pro-crypto agenda and plans for a Bitcoin strategic reserve, Carney might have to make a similar reversal of course to please Bitcoin fans.

Carney previously criticized Bitcoin for having "serious deficiencies" and said having a Bitcoin standard "would be a criminal act of monetary amnesia," as reported by CoinTelegraph.

The Canadian's criticism of Bitcoin dates back to at least 2018 according to the report.

"The fixed supply of Bitcoin has fed a global speculative mania that has encouraged a proliferation of new cryptocurrencies," Carney previously said.

Carney has spoken positively of CBDCs previously and said Bitcoin has proven to be "poor short-term stores of value."

4. Board of Directors Roles: Along with roles at Goldman Sachs and the national banks getting Carney ready for his role as prime minister, the well-known banker also served on several notable boards.

With his push into politics, Carney has stepped down from many of his board roles. Carney previously served on the board of directors of Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM), a unit of Brookfield Corp (NYSE:BN).

Carney also resigned from his role on the global advisory board of Pacific Investment Management Co, also known as PIMCO. Carney previously served on the board of directors of Bloomberg L.P. and fintech unicorn Stripe, which was valued at $91.5 billion last month.

"I am no longer a senior executive at Brookfield, I am no longer a senior executive at Bloomberg, I am no longer on the board of Stripe, I am no longer on the board of PIMCO," Carney said in an announcement ahead of his prime minister run.

Carney said the board roles and his banking experience will serve Canada well.

"What I'm bringing from those (experiences) is to help Canada through the immediate crisis, but really to build the strongest economy in the G7."

5. Sports Fan/House Divided: A former hockey player, Carney is a fan of the sport and the Edmonton Oilers are his favorite NHL team. Carney is also a fan of the Canadian Football League team Edmonton Eskimos.

Carney is also a fan of soccer and roots for Everton in the English Premier League, with distant relatives living in the Liverpool area. Carney's wife Diana roots for Arsenal as her favorite soccer team, an Everton rival in the English Premier League. Diana, like Carney, also played hockey in college for the Oxford team.

The Canadian has also used the recent victory by Canada over the U.S. in the 4 Nations hockey tournament as a rallying cry.

"Canada will not bow down to a bully. In the trade war — just like in hockey — we will win," Carney said.

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Photo: Shutterstock

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