Carney and Stubb: Two centrist dads trying to save the world The leaders of Canada and Finland are running partners and friends who text each other regularly. Can they build a new transatlantic alliance in the age of Trump? By TIM ROSS and MICKEY DJURICin OTTAWA, Canada Photo-Illustration by Natália Delgado/POLITICO Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finnish President Alexander Stubb were born three years and 4,000 miles apart.

But Donald Trump’s detonation of the rules-based order in 2026 has lashed them together as the intellectual leaders of a new counter-movement offering a way for centrist liberals to survive the storm. They are increasingly aligned on the world stage — quoting each other in their speeches and sharing opinions on the broken global order and how smaller countries can cooperate better on defense and market power. They talk in private by phone and text message regularly.

Last month, when they found themselves in London at the same time, Carney and Stubb swapped texts and arranged to go jogging together in Hyde Park, somewhat to the surprise of their respective entourages. “We call each other and message quite frequently,” Stubb, a triathlete, told POLITICO in Helsinki a few days later. “We write to each other, we try and reflect what’s going on in the world, so it’s that type of a friendship.

And then we can go out on an occasional run as well, which is nice.” “I am not going to be doing any triathlons with President Stubb, that would be quite embarrassing from my perspective,” Carney said Tuesday when asked by POLITICO about the friendship as Stubb arrived in Ottawa for talks. “He is a remarkable individual with many talents.” Carney also said he valued “the deep relationship” and the “alignment” between the two on “a huge range of issues.” Together, he added, the two countries are facing up to the “disorder in the international system to rebuild a better system that works for the people of Canada, the people of Finland and the people of the world.” Nowadays, Canadians and Finns each face hostile and unpredictable neighbors, raising the stakes of diplomacy to existential levels.

Carney’s superpower to the south makes ominous jokes about wanting to incorporate Canada as its 51st state and has embarked on an economically damaging war in the Middle East with no clear resolution in sight. Finland’s neighbor to the east is four years into a war of aggression against Ukraine, menacing the waters of the Baltic and targeting countries across Europe with hybrid attacks. Stubb, a 58-year-old liberal conservative with a son and a daughter, and Carney, 61, the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and a father of four girls, find themselves in power at a profoundly perilous moment for the world.

A person who has seen Stubb and Carney together said there was clearly “very good chemistry” between them. “They share a way of thinking and their values, of course, but they also both have an operative mindset that’s geared toward finding solutions,” said this person, granted anonymity to speak freely. This week, Stubb is visiting Ottawa, where the pair will continue their conversations face-to-face.

Over meetings and a private working dinner, they are due to reflect on the state of the world, including how to end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the ongoing impact of Trump’s tumultuous second term. Aligned on the world stage on a range of issues, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finland’s President Alexander Stubb skate at TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Canada on April 14 where they met members of a women’s professional hockey team. | Andrej Ivanov/AFP via Getty Images As transatlantic relations slip deeper into crisis, the future of what used to be called the liberal world order could depend on the ideas these two centrist dads discuss between themselves.

Tackling Trump Stubb and Carney both love hockey. Stubb even watched football on TV with another centrist dad leader, British PM Keir Starmer, on that same trip to London. Like Starmer, both Carney and Stubb are bookish and thoughtful and have enjoyed significant success in life outside politics — Carney as a central banker, and Stubb in diplomacy and academia, as well as high-level amateur sport.

“I respect Mark a lot — I think he is one of the most intellectually astute world leaders we have right now,” Stubb told POLITICO. “I think we have a fairly similar background, the difference being that he’s an economist and I’m an international relations buff. We both have our Ph.D.s in our respective subjects and we both share a love of ice hockey.

Canada and Finland have always been of similar minds so I’ve been fortunate to land a good relationship with Mark.” But when it comes to Trump, the two men have had different experiences. Carney came to power in 2025 vowing to stand up to Trump and fight for Canadian sovereignty in the face of his territorial and economic threats. Stubb, by contrast, found himself with the label of Europe’