For a long time, that looked like a poisoned chalice, with the party destined for certain defeat at the hands of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
But Carney and his fellow liberals appear to have spied an opportunity in Trump’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric to make headway against the political Right.
Now, he has emerged as a forthright defender of Canada and arch Trump critic, while Poiliviere has frantically backpedalled away from the US president.
In one of Carney’s most colourful attacks, he compared Trump to the reviled Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort for his repeated calls to annex Canada.
He said: “When you think about what’s at stake in these ridiculous, insulting comments of the president, of what we could be, I view this as the sort of Voldemort of comment.”
And when Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canada last month, the former Bank of England governor labelled the move “illegal” and vowed not to “bow down to a bully”.
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“In the trade war – just like in hockey – we will win,” he added, referring to a Four Nations final between the US and Canada last month. It allowed Carney to talk about a sport close to his heart, having played for both Harvard and Oxford as a student.
In January, he earned laughs and viral attention on the US’s Daily Show as he compared the US and Canada to a couple going through a break-up, with interviewer Jon Stewart playing the part of a spurned lover.
“We’re resetting the relationship – we’re going to be stronger moving forward,” Carney said, straight-faced, saying the two countries could be “friends with benefits”.
“It’s not you, it’s us,” he added.
Stewart assured him: “We won’t levy tariffs on all your goods as retribution for your not going out with us. We respect your boundaries.”
On Sunday (Canada time), Carney rode the wave of widespread opposition to Trump in Canada to claim the office of prime minister, and is expected to be sworn in this week. And the reliable 20-point lead that the Conservatives had over Justin Trudeau’s liberals is now half that size.
Polls show that Carney, who guided Canada through one economic crisis in 2008, is now the figure most trusted by his countrymen to stand up to Trump.
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George Osborne, the United Kingdom’s former chancellor, recently told Politico: “To have someone around the table who’s been there, been in the room … not intimidated by a trip to the White House, not intimidated by meeting Donald Trump … that person’s Mark Carney.”
Many Canadians seem to agree.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently claimed that Trump’s trade war and annexation threats were an attempt to “break Canada”. But it looks like the making of Mark Carney.