Former Bank of Canada governor Carney enters race to replace Trudeau

EDMONTON, Alberta Jan 16 (Reuters) - Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney announced on Thursday that he is running to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the ruling Liberal Party.

Carney, 59, launched his bid at an event in the western city of Edmonton, casting himself as an outsider who was not part of Trudeau's unpopular government.

Trudeau announced his resignation this month amid unhappiness among legislators alarmed by the party's poor polling numbers ahead of an election this year.

Trudeau, who took office in November 2015, will stay on until his replacement is named on March 9.

Carney's main rival looks to be former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, whose resignation last month over policy differences led to Trudeau's decision to quit.

The new prime minister is unlikely to be in office for long. The minority government could be toppled in Parliament as soon as the end of March, triggering an election that polls indicate the official opposition Conservatives will win.

Carney, the only candidate who is not part of the Trudeau government, has made clear he will run as an outsider with considerable financial experience.

"Our times are anything but ordinary. The system is not working as it should and it's not working as it could," he said during his launch speech.

That said, he has close ties to Trudeau, who last September named him as chair of a task force on economic growth.

The Conservatives say there is little difference between Carney and Trudeau.

"As a long-time Liberal insider, advisor at least as early as 2020 ... Carney is the furthest thing possible from an outsider," the Conservatives said in a statement on Thursday.

Carney, in an interview with U.S. political comedian Jon Stewart this week, said the government has not been as focused as it should be on housing and the cost of living.

Carney worked for Goldman Sachs before joining the Canadian finance ministry in 2004. He was named Bank of Canada governor in 2007 and quickly had to deal with the after-effects of the global crisis in 2008.

In 2013 he took over as governor of the Bank of England, becoming the first person to ever head two major central banks.

After leaving the bank in 2020, he was appointed United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance. He is currently chair of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM). (Reporting by Amber Bracken in Edmonton and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Mark Porter)