OTTAWA — One of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s top advisers, who played a key role in his rise to power last year, is eyeing a run for Parliament in a soon-to-be-vacant riding in British Columbia.
Five Liberal sources confirmed to the Star on Friday that Braeden Caley, a longtime political operative currently working as Carney’s deputy chief of staff, is considering running for the party in North Vancouver—Capilano.
The riding’s current MP, former cabinet minister Jonathan Wilkinson, is preparing to resign the seat in the coming weeks to become Canada’s ambassador to the European Union.
News that Caley is considering running in Wilkinson’s seat caught some Liberals by surprise, after it was first reported in the Globe and Mail, but one of the Star’s sources said Caley is “very strongly” considering a run and has been encouraged to do so by Liberals in the community and the B.C. wing of the party in general.
Four other sources also said Caley is seriously thinking about vying for the seat.
The Star agreed not to identify the sources, who spoke about Caley’s considerations on condition of anonymity.
With a long resume as a staffer on Parliament Hill, in the Vancouver mayor’s office and at the Liberal-linked policy think tank Canada 2020, Caley was the national campaign director behind Carney’s successful push for the Liberal leadership after Justin Trudeau’s political downfall as prime minister.
During last year’s general election, he travelled with Carney and served as the Liberal co-director for the national campaign.
He has also worked as deputy chief of staff in Carney’s office since the former central banker became prime minister in March 2025, frequently appearing in the leader’s retinue at crucial meetings and on trade missions abroad.
The Star has reported that Caley helped court at least one Conservative MP to defect to the Liberals in recent months, as the Carney government managed to edge its way to a thin majority in the House of Commons, possibly staving off a national election until 2029.
Caley is considering a shift to electoral politics in B.C. as Ottawa works with Alberta to potentially fast-track the approval and construction of a major new oil pipeline to the West coast, despite the NDP government’s disapproval and the opposition of some First Nations.
The Carney government has also faced criticism from environmentalists over its removal of Trudeau-era climate policies as part of its pipeline co-operation with Alberta. This week, former environment minister Steven Guilbeault said he will resign his Montreal seat because of these climate policy climbdowns, and said that there is further disgruntlement in Carney’s caucus over the issue.
Carney has argued that the government must focus on building major projects and increasing exports of oil, gas and other goods to reduce Canada’s commercial dependence on the United States, after President Donald Trump launched a trade war with tariffs on sectors like automaking, steel, aluminum, lumber and more.
The government argues it can still reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions over the long term, in part by doubling electricity generation and using mostly clean power for transportation, heavy industry, and buildings over the coming decades.
