Canada PM Mark Carney to debut in 2025 election, replaces Chandra Arya in Nepean
ByAnirudh Bhattacharyya
Mar 23, 2025 09:46 AM IST
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will run for the Nepean seat in the House of Commons after the Liberal Party revoked Chandra Arya's candidacy.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will make his electoral debut in the seat in the House of Commons represented by Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya, whose candidacy for the 2025 federal election was revoked on Thursday.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a press conference after the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa, Canada.(AFP Photo)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a press conference after the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa, Canada.(AFP Photo)
That Carney will run for the riding (as a constituency is called in Canada) of Nepean in Ontario, a suburban area of the national capital, Ottawa, was announced by the ruling Liberal Party on Saturday.
“We're thrilled to announce that our Leader, Mark Carney, will be our candidate for Nepean in the next election,” the party said in a statement. It said that Ottawa was where Carney “raised his family, devoted his career to public service, and always gave back to his community.”
Canada’s federal election is expected to be held on April 28, nearly six months before the scheduled date of October 27.
The snap election will be called after Carney meets Governor General Mary Simon on Sunday, and she dissolves the House of Commons.
The early election call has been expected since Carney was selected leader of the ruling Liberal Party on March 9 and sworn in as the country’s 24th Prime Minister five days later.
Arya, who was elected from Nepean for the first time in 2015 and retained it in 2019 and 2021, had his candidacy for the 2025 election suddenly revoked by the party leadership on Thursday. At the time, the party stated that its decision was based on unspecified “new information” it reviewed, and the revocation was formally communicated to Arya. The “new information” was apparently reviewed by the National Campaign Co-Chair of the party, but no details were provided regarding its content.
That decision and Carney being nominated for Nepean raise questions about the reasons why the Liberals canceled Arya’s candidacy.
Carney will seek snap polls to take advantage of the momentum that the party has benefited from since he assumed charge, replacing Justin Trudeau, who had become intensely unpopular toward the end of his over nine-year-long rule.
Appearing at an event in Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta, on Thursday, Carney said convention dictated that the first person to be informed of the decision is the Governor General. But, he said, “What is clear is that, in this time of crisis, the Government needs a strong and clear mandate.”
Carney is expected to begin the election campaign in the Atlantic region of Canada on Sunday before traveling to other provinces and territories.
The former central banker is not a member of the House, which was scheduled to sit again on March 24 following the prorogation on January 6. Carney will, therefore, never have faced Parliament during his brief tenure as PM. The House was expected to pass a no-confidence motion bringing the government down, but Carney has chosen to seek a fresh mandate based on the threats Canada currently faces from the administration of US President Donald Trump.
“We’re offering a positive change for the country,” Carney said on Thursday.
In January of this year, Arya was barred from participating in the leadership race.
“This decision raises significant questions about the legitimacy of the leadership race and, by extension, the legitimacy of the next Prime Minister of Canada,” Arya said in a statement then.
Share this article
Liberal Party
CanadaCanada
Read breaking news, latest updates from US, UK, Pakistan and other countries across the world on topics related to politics,crime, and national affairs.
See More
Read breaking news, latest updates from US, UK, Pakistan and other countries across the world on topics related to politics,crime, and national affairs.