Canada’s Liberals made Carney their new leader: What happens next?

Canada’s governing Liberal Party has chosen Mark Carney to replace outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as its leader.

The former governor of the Bank of Canada won the Liberal leadership vote on Sunday, about two months after Trudeau announced plans to resign amid pressure over an affordability crisis and threats of a trade war with the United States.Carney is taking the reins of the party as Canada-US tensions are soaring following President Donald Trump’s imposition of steep tariffs on Canadian goods.

Canada is also heading into a federal election that must take place by October 20 but could happen sooner.

So what happens now? Here, Al Jazeera breaks down what’s next as Carney takes over from Trudeau as party leader and is set to become Canada’s new prime minister.

Carney wins leadership
Carney overwhelmingly won a leadership race that saw him go up against former Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, MP Karina Gould and businessman Frank Baylis.

The economist and former central banker is not a sitting member of the Canadian parliament — known as the House of Commons — and he has never held federal office before.Under Canada’s Westminster system of parliamentary government, a person does not need to be elected to serve as prime minister, explained Andrea Lawlor, an associate professor of political science and public policy at McMaster University in Ontario.

Instead, the prime minister must be someone who “can command the confidence of the House”, Lawlor told Al Jazeera.

In practice, this has typically meant the prime minister is the leader of the party with the most seats in Parliament or who can form a government. The Liberals currently have a minority government.Trudeau must formally resign
Trudeau, who has been prime minister since 2015, announced in January that he would step down as Liberal leader and prime minister after his successor was chosen.

Now that Carney has been selected as the new leader, Trudeau must formally resign.

That involves going to the governor general, the official who holds the largely symbolic role of upholding the Canadian governmental system.

“For the transition of power to take place, the prime minister must inform the governor general of their intention to resign and advise them about who they think their successor should be,” explained Daniel Beland, a professor at McGill University in Montreal.

“It’s only after the governor general accepts the resignation of the prime minister that they can appoint a successor, typically by acting upon the advice of that outgoing prime minister.”It is unclear exactly when Trudeau plans to go to the governor general.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday of last week, the outgoing prime minister said, “I look forward to a transition to my duly elected successor in the coming days or week.”

Carney invited to form gov’t
Once the governor general accepts Trudeau’s resignation and his recommendation, Carney will then be asked to form a government.

CBC News reported last week that preparations for the prime ministerial transition process — from Trudeau to his successor as Liberal leader — were already quietly under way.

One of the top questions will be the size and makeup of Carney’s cabinet.

Several members of Trudeau’s government, including Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, had endorsed Carney’s bid for the Liberal leadership and are expected to be part of his future cabinet.

Whenever Carney is officially sworn in as prime minister, he would speak on behalf of the Liberal minority government.