Liberal leadership: Quebec Premier Legault sees Carney as ‘an ally’

Quebec Premier François Legault congratulated Mark Carney on his victory in the Liberal Party of Canada leadership race and said he sees him as “an ally” in the face of the American administration’s attacks.

“Everyone will have to pull together and work together to protect the economy from Donald Trump’s tariffs and I am confident that Carney will be an ally in this fight,” he wrote Sunday evening on X.

Je tiens à féliciter Mark Carney pour sa victoire à la course à la chefferie du Parti libéral et sa nomination prochaine comme premier ministre du Canada. Les défis auxquels le Canada et le Québec feront face au cours des prochains mois sont importants. Tous devront se serrer les…

— François Legault (@francoislegault) March 9, 2025

Legault reiterated that Canada and Quebec will face “significant” challenges in the coming months.

In a brief comment, the premier also thanked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “for his years of public service and his commitment to Canada.”

Carney, a former central bank governor, was crowned Liberal leader a few minutes earlier by garnering an overwhelming majority of votes from Liberal activists. He will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister in the coming days.

The Conservatives, who have no shortage of contempt for Carney, accused him in a press release of “playing a sneaky trick” on Canadians by leading them to give the Liberals a fourth term.

Earlier in the day, at a rally in London, Ont., their leader, Pierre Poilievre, insisted that Carney had been an economic adviser to Trudeau and accused him of having “personally profited” from jobs that were allegedly outsourced south of the border.

“By working for Trudeau, Carney made Canada weaker and poorer. By working for himself, he made the United States stronger and richer,” said Poilievre.

“A little out of touch”

In the New Democratic Party (NDP), deputy leader Alexandre Boulerice had been dispatched to Ottawa to attend the closing event of the race.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Boulerice maintained that the winner of the race “once again managed to put everyone to sleep” during his speech. Above all, he criticizes Carney for being “a little disconnected” from the reality of the population.

“He may be a renowned economist, but does he understand the reality of Mr. and Mrs. Average Joe when he is unable to say how much a basket of groceries costs for a family of four,” declared Bourlerice. “I think people will say: ‘is he really someone who is on our side and who will be able to protect us’? If he does not understand us, it will be difficult.”

Asked to react, Justice Minister Arif Virani replied that on the contrary, his new leader is “a husband, (…) a father, he grew up in Alberta, he played hockey.”

“I think he’s absolutely like everyone else,” continued Virani. “Of course, he’s not exactly everyone who has had the opportunity to manage the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. But still, he’s a man of everyday life.”

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, for his part, simply congratulated the new Liberal leader “and unelected Prime Minister.”

According to him, Carney’s “clarity of mandate” “meets the questions raised by a complex political context.”

J'adresse mes félicitations au nouveau chef libéral et premier ministre non-élu, Mark Carney, dont la clarté du mandat est à la hauteur des questions soulevées par un contexte politique complexe, et qui sera révélateur des enjeux et des choix à faire par les électeurs du Québec.…

— Yves-F. Blanchet ????⚜️ (@yfblanchet) March 9, 2025

He also shared a video in which he talks about the issues that he believes will be decisive during the next election campaign: agri-food, fisheries, aluminum, strategic minerals, culture, lumber, aerospace and clean energy.

In it, Blanchet presents his party as the only one that will speak solely for the interests of Quebec.

–With information from Émilie Bergeron

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews