Live updates: Mark Carney arrives at Rideau Hall to be sworn in as prime minister

We’ve seen 20 MPs take the air through and through the face doors of Rideau marguerite radclyffe hall so far. That’s at the upper terminate of what sources told us would be the size of Carney’s cabinet.

Sources have told us there will be no unelected members of cabinet (except Carney himself, of course).

In the United States, there’s been abundant talk lately about Canada. Specifically, about the treatment of Canada. But not much talk about Canada getting a new prime minister.

Case in point: as recently as a few days ago, President Donald Trump was speculating about Trudeau clinging to power, just to show you how little mind people here were paying to the Liberal leadership race.

I'm a correspondent based here in Washington. The White House has said almost nothing about Trudeau’s departure and his replacement by Carney, with the president’s press secretary making a brief comment only when asked by a journalist.

That may change now — with Carney’s ascension to the role, and with the anticipated Canadian election.

Good morning. Aaron Wherry here, covering Parliament Hill.

A little historical context to set the stage as arrivals begin at Rideau Hall.

At 59 years old (Sunday is his birthday), Carney will become the 16th-oldest prime minister at the time of swearing in, nestled between Jean Chrétien (59 years, nine months, 23 days) and R.B. Bennett (60 years, one month, four days).

Charles Tupper remains undefeated as our oldest prime minister (74 years, nine months, 30 days).

We don’t know the exact size of the ministry yet, but if Carney’s first cabinet comes in at 20 members it will be the smallest since Louis St. Laurent had a cabinet of 19 in 1956.

Except for a few days in 2017, Justin Trudeau’s cabinet was always 30 members or more. Stephen Harper’s government never operated with fewer than 26 ministers. And Chrétien’s smallest cabinet had 23.

A source close to former Liberal leadership contestant Frank Baylis says he was not offered a cabinet post.

Some conversations occurred between the teams of the former MP and Montreal businessman, who finished fourth in last Sunday's race, and PM-designate Carney, but no post was offered.

The source says Baylis will publicly support Carney’s cabinet picks.

We know Bill Blair, Ginette Petitpas Taylor and Jonathan Wilkinson are staying in cabinet as well, though we're unsure of their roles at this point.

Current cabinet ministers who aren’t getting a post this time: Jean-Yves Duclos, Marc Miller, Diane Lebouthillier, Mark Holland, Ya’ara Saks and Ahmed Hussen. Karina Gould, who left cabinet to run for the leadership, was not offered a post.

There’s been a visceral dislike for Trudeau in this country, ever since he stood up in Parliament in September 2023 and accused Indian government agents of being involved in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar — a Canadian citizen — on Canadian soil.

India calls the allegation absurd.

So, it’s not really about Carney. Anybody replacing Trudeau is automatically seen as a good thing by senior Indian officials.

I’ve had a couple of sources tell me everything will be alright once Trudeau is gone. Others have called it a relief.

Justin Trudeau's final message to Canada as prime minister

With Mark Carney set to be sworn in on Friday as prime minister, Justin Trudeau took to X to leave one final message as the country’s leader. ‘I will always be boldly and unapologetically Canadian,’ he says, and asks for his fellow Canadians to be the same.

Earlier this morning, Trudeau met with Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to officially resign. The meeting wrapped up just before 10 a.m. ET.

He departs as Canada’s seventh-longest serving prime minister, just 141 days shorter than Stephen Harper, whom he replaced.

His father, Pierre Trudeau, is third on that list.

Yesterday, Trudeau said a final goodbye to Canadians in a video on social media. You can watch that video above.

After he’s sworn in as prime minister and swears in his cabinet, Carney will take reporters’ questions. This wasn’t an everyday occurrence during his leadership campaign.

Yes, it will be a chance to ask Carney when he plans to call an election. But it’s also a moment for the press gallery to ask him some tough accountability questions and see how the new — largely untested — PM handles the scrutiny.

His lack of media availability is something the Conservatives have pointed out, although leader Pierre Poilievre has largely avoided sit-down interviews with the press gallery.

Poilievre will scrum around 2 p.m. ET.

Carney served as governor of the Bank of England during Brexit, one of the most politically divisive periods in modern British history. Critics say he overstepped his role when he warned the decision to leave the European Union could spark recession. His backers say he guided the economy through the stormy aftermath.

But Carney’s transition to becoming Canada’s next prime minister is being framed here almost entirely against the backdrop of the Trump era and his potential impact as the leader of a front-line G7 nation in U.S. Trade disputes.

“His rise to the top job raises the stakes for the U.K.,” the BBC economics editor Faisal Islam wrote recently, contrasting Carney’s more “robust” approach with the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s efforts to “hug the White House closely.”

“The bigger strategic point is that Carney’s background means a focus on international solidarity, and defence of the existing multilateral system,” he wrote.

As trade tensions escalate with the U.S., Carney is heading to Europe next week in his first official trip.

“I'm absolutely clear Canada will remain and continue to be a proud sovereign nation,” Lammy said.

“And in the coming days, as the new prime minister Mark Carney meets Kier Starmer, our prime minister, I'm quite sure that that will be underlined."

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