<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/renewables-and-climate-champion-mark-carney-picked-as-canada-pm-to-take-on-trump-and-musk/>
"Mark Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada and of the Bank of England,
a green energy evangelist and the man who headed Brookfield’s ill-fated attempt
to turn Australia’s Origin Energy green, has been chosen to be the next prime
minister of Canada.
The overwhelming vote in favour of Carney (85 per cent) among Liberal Party
members means the former central banker will replace Justin Trudeau as PM –
within a few days – and at a critical time for the country as it pushes back
against the tariff and verbal assaults from US president Donald Trump and his
co pilot Elon Musk.
Carney will be the first unelected person to be prime minister in Canada and is
expected to call an election reasonably quickly. But what a few weeks ago
seemed a poisoned chalice now looms as a massive opportunity.
The fortunes of the Liberal Party have taken a dramatic turn since the
inauguration of Trump and his threats to impose tariffs and make Canada the
51st state of the US. The Liberals now run neck and neck with the Conservatives
after trailing by more than 20 points in some polls.
Carney is best known for his central banking roles, where he guided Canada
through the 2008 financial crisis and then the UK through Brexit, but he also
rose to global prominence for his climate and renewables advocacy.
He was a UN special envoy on climate change, and after leaving the BoE joined
Brookfield, where he was head of the transition and head of the team that
lobbed an $18 billion bid for Australia’s Origin Energy, promising to
accelerate its transition to green energy with a planned rollout of 12 GW of
new wind, solar and storage.
That bid – despite being supported by the Origin Energy board – was undone by
shareholders still attached and invested in the fossil fuel industry, but
Carney remains a strong supporter of renewables, of carbon markets, and carbon
border tariffs.
How he will deal with Trump and Musk is not yet known, but he has supported
Trudeau’s retaliatory measures. His biggest rival for the Liberal leadership,
former finance minister Chrystia Freeland – a good friend (he is godfather to
her son) – had suggested imposing 100 per cent tariffs on Tesla EVs in response
to Musk’s political antics.
Attacking Musk has become bipartisan policy since the Tesla CEO described
Canada as “not a real country.” More than 300,000 people have signed a petition
calling for Musk’s Canadian citizenship to be revoked, and conservative Ontario
premier Doug Ford has ripped up a $C100 million Starlink contract because
“Ontario won’t do business with people hell-bent on destroying our economy,”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
