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(Bloomberg) — The senior ranks of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet have made their choice on who they believe should replace him as Canada’s prime minister — and they’re throwing their weight behind Mark Carney.

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Carney has secured the backing of Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon. He will receive a public endorsement from Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Sunday, said a person close to Champagne. 

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The support shows that many ministers believe the former central banker is the best bet to counter US President Donald Trump’s trade threats and boost the Liberal Party’s electoral fortunes. They also strengthen Carney’s position in Quebec, traditionally a crucial bastion of Liberal support.

Joly, Guilbeault, MacKinnon and Champagne are all from the French-speaking province. Carney, 59, who grew up in Alberta, has been working daily with aides on improving his French-language skills, according to people familiar with the matter. 

That will matter a lot if he wins the Liberal leadership contest, becomes prime minister and heads into a general election, where he would be up against Pierre Poilievre, a fierce and fluently bilingual debater who leads the Conservative Party, and Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Quebecois. 

Joly, speaking with reporters on Thursday, said it “was a difficult choice” to back Carney over Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who entered the race last week. Joly said she chose Carney due to his proven ability to handle big crises such as Brexit, which unfolded while he was governor of the Bank of England, and the 2008 global financial crisis, which erupted shortly before he became governor of the Bank of Canada.

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Guilbeault, a former Greenpeace activist, said he believes Carney is best placed to manage Trump and to steer Canada’s economy through an energy transition in the years ahead. “I’ve known him and I trust him and I have great faith in his abilities,” he said.

The backing of Quebec ministers is important for the credibility of Carney’s campaign — his first attempt at winning political office — as there are still questions about how well he can speak French without a script in front of him.

“It should be a source of concern for the Liberals, who badly need Quebec in the next election,” said Jeremy Ghio, a Montreal-based consultant who previously worked as an aide to Joly. 

No Liberal leader from outside of Quebec has won a general election in Canada since 1965. The Bloc Quebecois, a party that represents Quebec’s interests in Ottawa and promotes the province’s independence, is doing well in public opinion polls and appears set to take seats from the Liberals. Quebec will have 78 of the 343 seats up for grabs in the House of Commons in an election that may happen as early as May. 

But in addition to improving his French, Carney can help himself in Quebec by spending time on the ground there and through policy stances, Ghio said.

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He pointed to the tactics of former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, an Albertan. His French was far from perfect, but in 2006 his government passed a parliamentary motion recognizing Quebec as a nation within Canada, which helped the Conservatives build support there.

Freeland, who is seen as Carney’s main opponent in the leadership race and is a more fluent French speaker, was Trudeau’s deputy prime minister for five years and was seen by many as the most powerful member of his cabinet.

A handful of ministers have endorsed her, including Justice Minister Arif Virani and Health Minister Mark Holland. Like Freeland, they represent districts in greater Toronto.  

It was Freeland’s scathing resignation as finance minister on Dec. 16 that triggered the events that led to Trudeau’s decision to step down and call a leadership race. The prime minister will leave after his successor is chosen on March 9.

Her resignation created chaos in the government, as she quit just hours before she was scheduled to deliver a fiscal and economic update to Parliament, leaving Trudeau scrambling to find an emergency replacement as finance minister. She did it in part because Trudeau had been talking privately about moving her to a different job within cabinet and asking Carney to be finance minister. 

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There are still some bitter feelings within Trudeau’s cabinet over the way Freeland pushed the government into disarray in December, say some senior Liberals who spoke on condition of they not be identified. Others say Freeland is too associated with the unpopular prime minister after nine years in his cabinet, and the Liberals would be better off choosing a leader with less political baggage. 

Freeland told reporters she’s “grateful to the colleagues who have been supporting me,” and pointed out she also has the backing of multiple regional caucus chairs who play a role in party organizing.

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