Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney made sure to play up his local roots at his official campaign launch in Edmonton on Thursday, but Albertan pundits and political strategists are still on the fence about whether he can connect with the province’s voters after decades away.

Mark Carney will launch his candidacy for the Liberal Party leadership at an event in Edmonton on Thursday, according to a notice from Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal.

Mark Carney announced his bid to become leader of the Liberal Party of Canada surrounded by dozens of supporters in Edmonton on Thursday.

Mark Carney, the former governor of Canada's central bank, on Thursday launched his bid to succeed Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader and prime minister, immediately becoming a frontrunner in the race.

Mark J. Carney ’87 — a member of Harvard’s Board of Overseers, the University’s second-highest governing body — launched his campaign to become Canada’s next prime minister at a rally in Edmonton, Alberta Thursday afternoon.

The former governor of the Canadian and British central banks announced he was running to become head of the Liberal Party and prime minister.

Carney disclosed his intentions to a crowd in Edmonton, Alberta, the western Canadian city where he spent the bulk of his youth, promising an economic agenda focused on lifting the country from a period of stagnant growth.

Former central banker Mark Carney is due to formally kick off his bid to replace Justin Trudeau as the head of Canada’s Liberal Party and the country’s prime minister on Thursday, with the leader of the opposition already attacking his record.