American Reacts to Canada's Next Prime Minister - Mark Carney

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As an American I don't know much about Canadian politics and government. Today I am very excited to learn about the next Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, who recently was elected to replace Justin Trudeau. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!

[cynthiawebber]

Tyler, this wasn't a regular Federal Election for Canada's new Prime Minister.
The election was within the Liberal Party only, to replace Justin Trudeau.

[SimplySherryYT]

In Canada, we elect a Prime Minister by each of us voting for a local representative. We do not vote for the man/woman, we vote for their party. The only people who actually saw Justin Trudeau on their ballot, were people in his local riding. The rest of us, saw our local Liberals, NDP and PC's on our ballots.
"Mr Carney won the Liberal Leadership without having a seat in the House of Commons meaning he did not run in an election and win a riding (electoral districts) or Canada’s Federal electoral map.
Is Mr Carney the first Prime Minister who came into the position this way? No, he is not.
The following former PMs were in this same position:
- Mackenzie Bowell
- Sir John Abbott (death of Macdonald) and
- John Turner"
(thank you Royce Connie Johnson for the list).
It can also happen, that an election is held, and the leader of the party doesn't win their riding. If that happens, they can take the seat of a party member who did win, and then hold a by-election.
It can also happen that a Prime Minister steps down, like JT just did, and they can replace their leader. Kim Campbell is an example from our lifetime (1993, Conservative who became Prime Minister when Mulroney stepped down), also John Turner in our lifetime. Normally when this happens, an election is called very soon after.
Carney is expected to announce an election by the end of the week. It's in their best interest to announce an election too. The Liberals don't want to hold off on this, as much as people seem to think that's what they want.
People are upset that JT did what he did when he was about to have a vote of non-confidence raised against him, and then he shut down parliament. Do you know who's play book he got that out of? Stephen Harper, Progressive Conservative who did the exact same thing in 2009 when he was about to have a vote of non-confidence raised against him. It's amusing when your preferred party does it, it's treasonous when the party you don't like does it. That's Canadian politics for you.
Absolutely nothing about yesterday's handing over of power from Trudeau to Carney is illegal, or unusual, or against our electoral process or laws. It's literally exactly how it is supposed to happen when a Prime Minister steps down.
People screamed for him to step down.
He stepped down.
Now, take a deep breath, and vote in the upcoming election Canada. It's how democracy works. ❤🇨🇦

[randomperson]

Adding my thoughts here. For a lot of Canadians, this soverignty issue is miles ahead of any other issue. People living in the United States will have trouble understanding what it is like for a neighbour 10x your economic size with a vastly superior military to begin threatening annexation and belittling your government and talking about your border as an imaginary line. (similar rhetoric to what Putin used regarding Ukraine). This is a MAJOR issue in Canada.

[bjgoels]

You misunderstand. "Canadians" did not vote to make Mark Carney Prime Minister; the LIBERAL party voted for him. It was a party vote, not a country vote.

[bethmillar]

It isn't just a bank, The Bank of Canada is the central bank of Canada which controls monetary policy for the country - interest rates and money supply. Likewise, the Bank of England is the central bank of England.

[corikindrat]

This is just Trudeaus replacement. We still need to have an election.

[mindymcintosh]

We never voted for him. Liberal party voted him as new leader of the party. So he temporarily replaces Trudeau. There will be an election.... then we vote

[joanneh]

Thanks for sharing. As a Canadian, I was getting tired of explaining to how our Westminster Parliamentary system works. We have not be taken over! The Federal election must occur before Oct 2025. It will happen sooner, as need a ballot cast by all Canadians. There will be approximately 5 parties running a candidate. KEEP UP YOUR GOOD WORK! ❤🇨🇦

[WhizBack]

Another clarification - for average Americans - and Trump and other below average Americans - who are confused as to when we have elections in Canada.

The federal government has to call and election no later than 5 years from the previous election. The 'normal' guideline set by Elections Canada (the federal department responsible for all things related to elections), is a date set in October in the 4th calendar year after the previous election. Having said this, it is up to the governing party to call and election and they can call one at any time before the 5 year constitutional limit.

Canada has a number of political parties, with usually 4 or 5 having members elected into parliament. This means there is the possibility of minority governments, where the party with the most elected members does not have a majority of members. The smaller parties combined have more members and therefore more votes. In this circumstance the governing party needs to obtain the support (votes) of one or more other parties to pass legislation and actually govern. This can sometimes be a good outcome as parties have to negotiate and ultimately work together. It can also lead to unstable and short lived governments if no one wants to work with them.

This brings us to the other way an election can be called. If the opposition parties feel they can't work with the government, they can bring forward a non-confidence motion. If a vote is taken and governing party cannot get sufficient support from opposition parties, then the non-confidence motion is successful, and the government falls. It may be possible for the minority parties to form a coalition at this point and form a government, thus taking power away from the existing government. Usually though, a non-confidence vote results in parliament being dissolved and an election is called.

To summarize:
- The government has 5 years to call an election.
- The Prime Minister can call an election at any time
- in a minority government, it is possible for the opposition parties to force an election call with a vote of non-confidence.


So in the current situation - we do have a minority government. Parliament sits again on March 24th. Opposition parties could, shortly after this, bring down the government with a non-confidence vote. Mark Carney, on the other hand, could call an election as soon as he is sworn in, presumably sometime before March 24th. If neither of these things happen - an election must be held by October this year. Trump complained he couldn't get Trudeau to tell him when the next election was and thought that sounded suspicious. He accused Trudeau of trying to hold on to power. In reality, Trudeau couldn't tell him because it would no longer be up to him, and unlike the US, there is no fixed date.

Hope this clarifies things a bit.

Elbows up Canada!

ps... Basically the same processes are followed to elect Provincial governments.

[DorryRice-ynez]

The central Bank of Canada and the Central Bank of England is equivalent to the Federal Reserve in the US.

[kennethlarocque]

Canadians haven't decided. The Liberal party has decided. He hasn't faced a federal election yet.

[trishvanroggen]

Most Canadians will fight with everything they have to defend our country; with our very lives 🇨🇦

[Dorie]

"Canada will win" You hear this as strong words and as a claim to be 'better' in some way. As a Canadian, I hear these words as a call to double down in the fight for our freedom and country. Canadians have been given no choice. We do not feel any better or any less than anyone else. But we MUST win, or we will all die fighting. Surrender is never an option. Period. We are literally deadly serious.

[donnabelisle]

Not all Canadians belong to the Liberal party. Only liberal party members, vote of their party leader of their party.

[WhizBack]

Tyler - To clarify, The Bank of Canada and the Bank of England are not commercial banks, but rather Central Banks - basically the top of the banking system and 'owned' by the government. They establish interest rates, money supply, general monetary policy, and maintain the stability of the banking system in their respective countries. The US equivalent would be the Federal Reserve (The Fed).

[christianmitchell.canada]

The small number of votes compared to the population of Canada is because only around 1% of Canadians are members of a political party.
In Canada, voter registration is simply registration for citizens to vote in government elections. There's no attached party affiliation when you register to vote in government election. Canada doesn't force voters to register as members of a political party like in the American primary nomination system. Canadians can choose to join a political party as a member which sometimes requires paying a small membership fee*. Only members of the party can vote in party nominations or for party leadership races.
*Edit: I was informed that the Liberal Party of Canada doesn't currently charge a party membership fee.

[michaeldolan]

I don’t know if you have ever posted on the way the Canadian electoral system works compared to the U.S. but it would be very useful to educate yourself. We have a Parliamentary system that dates back to 1216 under King Henry III. We don’t vote for a Prime Minister like the U.S. votes for a President. We only vote for our local Member of Parliament. The Leader of the Party that wins the election automatically becomes Prime Minister. There are 29 countries with this system. Analyzing this on your part would be useful. Most Americans think that we vote for a Prime Minister. Mark Carney just won the Leadership of the Liberal Party and he will be Prime Minister now because the Liberal Party is the governing Party. An election is coming and the Leader of the Party that wins the most seats in Parliament will automatically become Prime Minister, nobody will have voted for a Prime Minister per se.

[jjjones]

Those aren't just any banks, they are the Nations Federal banks in England & Canada. He was in charge of interest rates in Canada & England.

When you read Governor of the Bank of Canada, translate that to Chair of the Federal Reserve.

[dorisbetts]

I met Mark Carney in person in a small group a few months ago. Calm, confident, optimistic, funny, humble and very interested in us. He asked each of us for our ideas and questions. All of us in attendance were very impressed with him.