Canada Liberal Party to choose new leader to replace Trudeau as PM

OTTAWA: Canada´s Liberal Party names its next leader on Sunday, with a former central banker and political novice favoured to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the country confronts threats from US President Donald Trump.

Mark Carney, who served as the governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, is the front-runner to be tapped Liberal leader when results from a vote of party members are announced later on Sunday.

The other main challenger is Trudeau´s former deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, who held several senior cabinet positions in the Liberal government that was first elected in 2015.

Whoever wins will take over from Trudeau as prime minister, but will soon face an election that polls currently show the rival Conservative Party as slight favorites to win.

Carney has racked up endorsements, including from much of Trudeau´s cabinet and more than half of Liberals in parliament.

A Freeland win remains possible but would be a surprise for the party as it heads towards an election that must be held by October, but could come within weeks.

Both Freeland and Carney have maintained that they are the best candidate to defend Canada against Trump´s attacks.

The US president has repeatedly spoken about annexing Canada and thrown bilateral trade, the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, into chaos with dizzying tariff actions that have veered in various directions since he took office.