Canada’s incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney, a citizen of both the UK and Ireland, has said he would now renounce both nationalities.
On March 9, Federal Liberals elected Carney to lead their party into the next election as Prime Minister in a resounding first-ballot victory, winning 85.9 per cent and defeating former finance minister Chrystia Freeland in second place.
He will replace Justin Trudeau, who had served as prime minister since 2015.
The former Governor of the Bank of England told reporters: “I have already initiated the process to renounce my citizenships in both the United Kingdom and Ireland,” and said he believed “as Prime Minister, I should only hold one citizenship”.
Carney has attracted criticism, though, for acquiring and relinquishing nationalities as he moves between jobs.
Irish financial services professional Louis Curran attacked Carey on X on March 9, saying: “He’s highly ambitious and willing to trade even his nationality to get the job he wants. This isn’t a call to service, it’s another box tick in his career ambition.”
Carney, whose grandparents moved to Canada from County Mayo, became an Irish citizen in his early twenties. In November 2018, he became a British citizen as well.
Although he has never lived in Ireland, his UK ties were more substantial.
He lived in the UK twice, as a postgraduate student at Oxford between 1991 and 1995, and then from 2013 to 2020 as Bank of England chief.
Since 1994, he has also been married to British economist Diana Fox Carney.
He was the first non-British citizen to be appointed to the role since the Bank was established in 1694, but promised to seek UK nationality when he accepted – news that was welcomed by George Osborne, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer had announced his appointment.
“I made that commitment to the prime minister,” he told Channel 4 News pundit Jon Snow in 2013, adding the residency requirement for UK citizenship extended “to about the end of my term”.
Carney became a British citizen in 2018, at a ceremony in the London borough of Camden, alongside 40 other local residents from 26 different countries.
As part of proceedings, he took an oath to “be faithful and bear true allegiance” to the UK’s monarch and a pledge to “give my loyalty to the United Kingdom”.
Carney was not Canada’s only leadership contender to pledge to renounce other passports if elected.
In 2020, Canadian Conservative Party member Andrew Scheer, who was a Canadian-US dual citizen, said he would renounce his US citizenship if he became prime minister.
Yet, after his party lost Canada’s general election that autumn, he told CTV’s Question Period in 2020: “Given the fact that I won’t be prime minister, I discontinued the process.”
Multiple nationalities have been evident in Canada’s parliament. A CBC News investigation found at least 56 parliamentarians from the previous 2015-19 parliament — 44 MPs and 12 senators —were born outside Canada, with at least 22 of those holding citizenships from other countries.
Carney’s likely rival for Canada’s coming federal elections, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, also had Irish grandparents, making him eligible for Irish nationality.
As a political novice, Carney has inherited a trade war with the US and also will need to quickly face a federal election that must be held by October.
Carney, who captained Oxford University’s ice hockey team, used his victory speech to throw down a gauntlet to US President Donald Trump, saying: “In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.”
