Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, said Tuesday she will be leaving her diplomatic post in the new year, after serving as the top envoy representing Canada in Washington, D.C., since 2020.
Her replacement will be Mark Wiseman, two sources close to the government say. Wiseman is a 55-year-old financier and is said to be a close friend of Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The Prime Minister’s Office would neither confirm nor deny Wiseman would succeed Hillman, though a government source said he is being considered for the job.
Bloomberg News also reported that Wiseman would be the new ambassador, citing people familiar with the matter.
Neither Wiseman nor Hillman could immediately be reached.
Hillman this year has helped lead the on-and-off, sometimes tense negotiations for a new trade deal with the Trump administration.
“I look forward to coming home and sharing more about my next steps,” she said in a statement posted on X.
A source close to Hillman said she had decided earlier this year that she would resign in 2026. While the source said her initial plans would have been to resign in mid-2026, she and Carney decided it would be best if she left early next year, as three-way negotiations between Canada, the United States, and Mexico to refresh and update their free trade agreement could be in full swing by July.
Both Hillman and Carney agreed that a departure in January or February would give a new ambassador time to prepare for those trade talks, sources say.
“Most recently, as the Canada-U.S. relationship is being rewritten, I have been deeply grateful for Prime Minister Carney’s strong leadership and for the confidence that he has placed in me,” Hillman wrote in her statement.
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“While there will never be a perfect time to leave, this is the right time to put a team in place that will see the CUSMA review through its conclusion.”
Wiseman is a former chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, a former manager at the U.S. investment firm BlackRock Inc. and prior to 2016, the president and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Hillman helped lead the negotiations that created CUSMA, which replaced the earlier North American Free Trade Agreement during Trump’s first term, before she was named ambassador.
U.S. President Donald Trump has recently spoken about his openness to letting the trade pact “expire” or replace it with new agreements with Canada and Mexico.
While Hillman — a career trade negotiator who was appointed by former prime minister Justin Trudeau — impressed Carney enough that he kept her in Washington after he became prime minister, sources tell Global News that, because of Hillman’s association with Trudeau, it was important for Carney to have a new individual advocating for Canada in Washington.
Trump, sources say, deeply dislikes Trudeau and many of those who were closely associated with him.
Carney had named Wiseman to the prime minister’s council of advisors on Canada-U.S. relations in March.
Carney thanked Hillman for her “invaluable counsel” and years of service in a statement released by his office.
“Ambassador Hillman’s intelligence, determined action and diplomacy have contributed immensely to the advancement of a new economic and security relationship with the United States — and prepared the foundations for Canada in the upcoming review of CUSMA,” he said.
“As one of the longest-serving ambassadors to the United States in our history, her wide-ranging and constructive engagement with all branches of the U.S. government as well as with leaders across America and Canada have yielded crucial results for Canadians.”
Trump in October cut off trade negotiations with Canada over an Ontario government-funded ad campaign that criticized his tariff policies, claiming they misquoted former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
Trump administration officials later said that “the Canadians have been very difficult to negotiate with,” and that U.S. frustrations had “built up over time.”
The negotiations had been focused on reducing tariffs on certain sectors like steel, aluminum and energy before they were suspended. Canadian officials had said talks would shift to additional sectors like autos and lumber after initial deals were secured.
— With files from Mackenzie Gray
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