Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly will endorse Mark Carney in the race for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, Radio-Canada has learned.

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.