Nipissing-Timiskaming MP and former House Speaker Anthony Rota didn't hesitate.
"I am endorsing Mark Carney," he told BayToday by phone as he travelled back from working in Ottawa.
Carney, the 59-year-old former Bank of Canada governor and economist has been racking up MP endorsements in the past few days and is considered the favourite to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt, Mark Serre has also endorsed Carney.
"I look at his ability, and I look at his experience," says Rota. "When you put the two together, he really has an impressive, impressive background," explained Rota. "And it's not only having the background, but the ability to put it into operations. He is a very impressive individual and we're very lucky to have him want to be the leader of the Liberal Party."
Carney is banking on his reputation and credentials as a skilled economist, but critics say he has no experience in being elected to any political position. That doesn't bother Rota.
"No, he hasn't, but neither was Brian Mulrooney when he went in. And you know, I think experience, especially in the circles that he was in, he handled himself very well."
One of the first challenges for Carney if he wins, and immediately becomes prime minister, is the looming threat of economic disaster if Donald Trump imposes crippling tariffs on Canadian exports to the United States. Rota thinks it will come down to negotiations and feels Carney is the right man to go into negotiations with the Trump team and argue the facts of the situation.
"I mean, I've met with Mark. I've spoken with him. He is a wealth of information and is able to access it very quickly in the right context, and I think that alone is worth its weight in gold." He's not surprised thought by the confrontational comments coming from Trump.
"I'm at the point where nothing shocks me coming out of his mouth. He likes to talk a lot. I'll wait to see what gets implemented into laws and how we can deal with it when it comes to fruition, if it comes to fruition. Again, I'll have to wait and see. We have to be ready to counter whatever comes our way but we can't go starting the war by going on what he said. We have to act on the actions that come our way, and that's the only way."
Even some within the Liberal party have expressed the opinion that it has lost its way and the trust of the public and that's why it's polling so badly. But Rota has his own explanation.
"I've always had this theory that after five years in power, people start getting tired of you. And then after eight years, they begin to hate you. And if you look throughout history, that eight-year magic number is very common.
"I think Justin Trudeau kind of stayed a little bit beyond that. We saw what happened, and we've seen it with different leaders along the way in Canada and the United States. And that's one thing I find the United States do better than us, where they only allow the president in for eight years maximum, which I think was an excellent thing to put in place."
