Canada Picks Former Pension Boss, BlackRock Executive As Top Diplomat in Washington — Update

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is turning to a former pension-fund boss and Blackrock executive to be Canada's top diplomat in Washington, D.C., tasked with helping guide trade talks with the Trump administration.

Carney said Monday that Mark Wiseman would be Canada's new U.S. ambassador, effective Feb. 15. Wiseman is the former chief executive of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and a onetime senior executive at Blackrock. Wiseman will take over from Kirsten Hillman, who on Dec. 9 said she was stepping down after six years in the post. She was appointed by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Wiseman is presently the chairman of asset manager Lazard's Canadian unit, and a senior adviser at Boston Consulting Group.

This marks another effort by Carney, a former central banker and Goldman Sachs banker, to place close associates with business experience and dealmaking prowess in key roles designed to help rewire a Canadian economy that must now learn to live with a protectionist U.S. administration. Carney appointed Wiseman to a task force to advise him on U.S.-Canada relations. Wiseman also made financial contributions to Carney's successful campaign to take over as leader of Canada's Liberal Party, according to election-finance records.

"Mark Wiseman brings immense experience, contacts, and deep commitment at this crucial time of transformation of our relationship with the United States," Carney said in a statement, adding Wiseman will be a "core member" of the Canadian negotiating team.

Wiseman took over as CEO of Canada's largest pension fund in 2012 before heading to BlackRock four years later. At one time, he was viewed as one of several candidates vying to succeed BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink, but he departed the asset manager in late 2019 after failing to disclose a relationship with an employee under his reporting line.

Wiseman is a political and diplomatic novice, and takes on the role of Canada's ambassador in D.C. at a time of elevated uncertainty about Canada's longstanding economic ties with the world's largest economy.

Wiseman's appointment was telegraphed in local media reports this month, and that drew criticism from some of Carney's political rivals due to Wiseman's prior support for the accelerated intake of immigrants. Canada followed that policy template but later retreated and pivoted to imposing limits on immigration, as rapid-fire population growth placed strains on housing costs, the delivery of social services, and infrastructure.

Prior to Carney coming to power, Wiseman advocated for bold economic change and criticized the approach from Ottawa. "The Canadian economy is in dire need of a cultural transformation," Wiseman wrote in an essay published in April 2024 in Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper. "Action from policy makers has been nonexistent, timid or ineffectual. In tandem, corporate Canada has become beset by contentment and incumbency."

Among Wiseman's top priorities when he arrives in Washington will be the formal review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade treaty, or USMCA, which moves into high gear in 2026. Canada has escaped severe repercussions from Trump's tariffs, in part because 80% of U.S.-bound exports are exempted from tariffs due to their compliance with USMCA's terms.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer expressed support for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada pact in closed-door congressional meetings this week, but he's also seeking several concessions from Carney in regard to the trade deal--on issues such as alcohol sales, dairy trade, and regulations governing online streaming.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2025 13:26 ET (18:26 GMT)