Mark Carney's current tenure as prime minister of Canada began on March 14, 2025, when he accepted an invitation from Mary Simon, the governor general of Canada, to form the 30th Canadian Ministry and become the 24th Prime Minister of Canada. He succeeded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party in the 2025 leadership election after he announced his intent to resign as the party leader and prime minister. Shortly after taking office, Carney advised the governor general to dissolve Parliament and trigger the 2025 federal election, where he led his Liberals to win a plurality of seats in the House of Commons of Canada, forming a minority government.
Upon taking the oath of office, Carney became the first Canadian prime minister born in any of its territories (as opposed to provinces) and the third born west of Ontario, after Joe Clark and Kim Campbell. He is the second prime minister to have earned a PhD, after William Lyon Mackenzie King. Additionally, he is the first to have never served in prior elected office, and the first since John Turner not to be sitting in the House of Commons at time of appointment. In his first act as prime minister, Carney signed a prime ministerial directive to end the consumer carbon tax by April 1, while ensuring that April's carbon rebate continues. The directive was affirmed by an order in council signed by Governor General Mary Simon. Carney's first foreign visits were to France and the United Kingdom on March 17 to strengthen mutual security and sovereignty. The 2025 Speech from the Throne was delivered by King Charles III as part of his 2025 royal tour of Canada, outlining the government's first priorities following the election.
Carney's appointment occurred against the backdrop of Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election and his threats to impose sweeping tariffs on Canada and even annex it. This period coincided with a dramatic turnaround in the Liberal Party's fortunes: the party had been more than 20 points behind in the polls when Trudeau announced his resignation, but soon after Carney was sworn in as prime minister, the polling gap had been eliminated, and the Liberals were in the lead, putting them in striking distance of a majority government. Analysts described the scale of their political turnaround as having "little precedent" in Canadian history. After multiple floor-crossings between late 2025 and early 2026, the Carney government achieved majority status in April 2026 (after by-elections were held to fill several vacant seats).
Background
2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election
On January 6, 2025, Trudeau announced his resignation as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party. On January 16, 2025, Carney formally announced his intent to run in the leadership election and become Liberal Party leader. On March 9, 2025, he won the leadership election with 85.9% of the overall vote, becoming the next leader of the party and Prime Minister, succeeding Trudeau. Trudeau stayed on as Prime Minister until his formal resignation in the early morning of March 14, 2025, prior to Carney's swearing in later that morning.
At the time of his appointment, Carney did not hold a seat in the House of Commons, similar to the previous premierships of Charles Tupper, Arthur Meighen, and John Turner; all three individuals lacked seats in the House of Commons at the time of their initial appointment as Prime Minister. Carney would later win the seat of in Nepean in the 2025 federal election. Upon taking the oath of office, he became the first Canadian prime minister born in any of the territories and the third born west of Ontario (after Joe Clark and Kim Campbell). He is the second prime minister to have earned a PhD, after William Lyon Mackenzie King. Additionally, he is the first to have never served in prior elected office, and the first since John Turner not to be sitting in the House of Commons at time of appointment. Before taking office, Carney placed his Brookfield Asset Management stocks in a blind trust.
2025 federal election
Carney was expected to call a federal parliamentary election for late April or early May 2025, ahead of the required election date in October. On March 22, the Liberal Party announced that Carney would contest the riding of Nepean, located within Ottawa, in the election; ridings in Alberta had been floated given his personal connection to the province, particularly Edmonton, as were safe Liberal seats in Toronto and Ottawa. On March 23, Carney visited Governor General Mary Simon and asked to dissolve parliament and call an election for April 28. Carney and the Liberal Party subsequently won the election, defeating Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party and forming their fourth consecutive government. The Liberal Party won 169 seats, falling three seats short of a majority government, thereby forming a minority government.
Cabinet
Following the March 14, 2025, Rideau Hall swearing in ceremony by Governor General Mary Simon, Mark Carney, was invited to form his Cabinet and to become the 24th Prime Minister of Canada.
After the 2025 federal election, Carney reshuffled his cabinet on May 13, 2025.
Parliament Between late 2025 and early 2026, multiple opposition MPs crossed the floor to the Liberal caucus, helping push the government towards majority status; they included: Conservative MPs Chris d'Entremont, Matt Jeneroux, Michael Ma and Marilyn Gladu, and New Democratic MP Lori Idlout. Carney's attendance in Question Period has been significantly less than Trudeau's during his first year in office. After the government achieved a majority in the House of Commons in April 2026, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon moved to change the standing orders for lower house committees, with Liberal MPs holding a majority in those committees.
Domestic policy Taxation and finance Shortly after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Carney's government approved an order in council to immediately reduce the consumer price of carbon to $0 starting on April 1, 2025, thereby effectively terminating the consumer portion of Canada's carbon pricing policy. The final carbon rebate payment was nonetheless issued as scheduled. Carney stated the policy had become too "divisive" among the Canadian public, resulting in the necessity for it to be removed. The scheme was originally implemented in 2018 through the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, which was passed during Trudeau's first term. The industrial levy on carbon was unaffected.
After the recall of Parliament following the election, Carney introduced legislation to lower the bottom marginal income tax rate from 15% to 14%. The Liberals estimated that this would save two-income household $840 annually. Another tax change proposed by the bill was the temporary elimination of the Goods and Services Tax for first time home buyers. Both changes were part of the Liberal platform in the preceding election. The House of Commons approved a ways and means motion allowing the tax changes to effect before the enactment of the bill, and the income tax cut took effect on the following Canada Day, consistent with Carney's pre-election pledge. In June 2025, the government dropped the digital services tax in order "to advance broader trade negotiations with the United States."
In June, Parliament passed the One Canadian Economy Act with Conservative support, but the bill drew criticism from Indigenous groups.
In July 2025, finance minister François-Philippe Champagne asked fellow cabinet ministers to find savings in their departments, with the goal of a 15% government operational spending cut by 2029. Champagne announced in October that the government would establish a Financial Crimes Agency in 2026, along with a "national anti-fraud strategy". In early 2026, it was announced that the government would cut programs including in science, tourism, and foreign aid.
In September 2025, procurement minister Joël Lightbound announced that the government would allow Canada Post to phase out door-to-door service in favour of community mailboxes, impacting roughly 4,000 addresses. It will also close many rural post offices. In February 2026, the government gave Canada Post an over $1 billion loan, following a request from the Crown corporation amid financial difficulties.
Carney's 2025 federal budget was narrowly passed by parliament on 18 November in a 170–168 vote, avoiding a snap election. Carney's government introduced a new capital budgeting framework in the 2025 budget. Operational spending will be distinguished from capital expenditures, and the budgeting cycle will be revised with a budget tabled in autumn and an economic statement released in the spring.
In January 2026, the government announced the "Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit", which will increase quarterly goods and services tax (GST) payments by 25 percent over five years. It was also announced that a one-time GST top-up of 50 percent would be implemented in June 2026. The benefit will cost the government $12.4 billion over five years, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Before the 2026 spring economic statement, Carney announced the Canada Strong Fund, a sovereign wealth fund. Transport minister MacKinnon has stated his openness to privatizing and selling Canada's seaports and airports.
Immigration In 2025, Carney campaigned to address "unsustainable" immigration to Canada, which had risen to approximately 500,000 a year during the premiership of Justin Trudeau. As per the Immigration Levels Plan 2025–2027, Canada's overall planned permanent resident admission targets are 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027. The government set levels for temporary residents in the 2025-27 Levels Plan at 673,650 in 2025, 516,600 in 2026 and 543,600 in 2027.
Energy Carney voiced support for a new oil pipeline to the West Coast and a proposed C$16.5 billion ($12 billion) carbon capture system for the Alberta oil sands. In November 2025, Carney reached a deal with Danielle Smith to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to the British Columbia Coast. Opposed by British Columbia's David Eby, most local First Nations, and some Liberal caucus members, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) exempts the project from climate legislation such as the greenhouse gas emissions cap, but outlines that Alberta will invest in a carbon capture system for the Athabasca oil sands. Following the signing of the MOU, Steven Guilbeault, former minister of environment and climate change, resigned from Cabinet while remaining a member of the government caucus. In May 2026, Carney and Smith agreed on a carbon pricing system and a timeline for pipeline construction.
In May 2026, Carney announced a new national electricity strategy that aims to double Canada's electricity grid capacity by 2050 through a mix of clean energy and natural gas. The government will review and amend Trudeau's Clean Electricity Regulations and will train more than 100,000 highly skilled workers.
Environmentalism In 2025, Carney supported the Trudeau government's EV mandate, requiring hybrids and electric vehicles to make up 20% of sales by 2026 and 100% by 2035. However, by September 2025, Carney announced a pause and will launch a 60-day review of the EV mandate. In February 2026, he announced that the government would remove the mandate in favour of a rebate that offers $5,000 when Canadians buy battery electric and fuel EVs, and up to $2,500 for plug-in hybrids during a five-year period. Carney also lowered the EV sales mandate. He also announced investments in improving and expanding the country's EV charging network infrastructure.
Labour relations