Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called on Sunday to hold a federal election on April 28th, solidifying another major event on the calendar as the country goes through one of the most turbulent and unpredictable periods.
President Trump has imposed painful tariffs on Canada, and has threatened its sovereignty, turning on America’s closest allies and trading partners, overturning decades of close cooperation in all areas.
“We are facing the most important crisis of our lifetime due to President Trump’s unfair trade actions and his threat to our sovereignty,” Carney said, speaking to Ottawa news media.
“President Trump claims Canada is not a real country. He wants to destroy us, so America wants to own us,” he added. “We won’t let that happen. We are shocked by betrayal, but we must never forget the lesson.”
A political novice with a long career in central banking and finance, Mr. Carney was elected solely as the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party on March 9th and sworn as prime minister on March 14th.
Mr. Carney was widely expected to seek a quick election. He has no seats in Canadian parliament and the Liberals do not order a majority. This means their government is likely to fall into a non-confident vote as soon as they don’t ask for elections on Monday.
The main liberal opponents are conservatives led by Pierre Poilierve.
Trump’s aggressive stance towards Canada has been a boon for liberals and Carney. Before Trump took office, the Conservatives had gone double digits ahead of the polls, but Poliefre’s victory seemed to be a natural conclusion.
However, voters are concerned that Polyevel is ideologically similar to Trump and will not be able to stand up to him, and many are drawn to Carney’s economics experience and his long career on the international stage.
According to polls, Carney and the liberals eliminated the 25% lead held by conservatives, and the two ended up in the neck and neck for the election.
When Carney spoke just before calling the election on Sunday morning, Poilliebre tried to distract himself from the perception that he was standing side by side with Trump.
“All we need to do is put Canada first for change,” Polyable said, reflecting his campaign’s core slogan. “If you say you want to cut taxes, unlock resources and get your work back, that’s bad news for President Trump.”
Who is running?
Carney and the liberals are career politicians who opposed conservatives and Polyavel, 45, and made his name as an offensive orator who wasn’t afraid to adopt some of Trump’s style.
Poilliebre is a mainstream conservative and has long supported deregulation, tax cuts and abandonment of Trudeau-era environmental policies to allow Canada to ratchet its vast natural resources, primarily oil and gas exploitation.
Poilierbre also attacked the topic of culture war from Trump and borrowed the language. He said he is seeking a refund from the Canadian National Broadcasting Agency and believes he has only two genders.
He also says he wants to make Canada the world’s cryptocurrency capital, showing the same affinity as Trump.
In contrast, Carney has been attracting public attention for decades, but not politically competent. He was the Bank of England during Brexit, governor of the Bank of Canada during the global financial crisis of 2008.
Since then, he has worked in senior roles in the private sector, and has in recent years become a prominent advocate for sustainable investment and has assumed the role of UN envoy on climate action and finance.
During his days as he was in office, Mr. Carney has been fluent in economics and is comfortable at the global stage, but is not very used to the meticulous scrutiny of his personal issues.
He shows he is more centralistic than his predecessor, Mr. Trudeau. When he announced the snap election on Sunday, Mr. Carney also pledged to cut taxes for the lowest income class. Over the past few days he has adopted some of Polyavel’s more centralist positions, including the disposal of household and small business taxes on carbon emissions and canceling planned tax hikes at capital gains.
House third party, Brock Quebecois, led by Yves François Blanchet, is dedicated to Quebec nationalism.
The New Democrats, led by Jagmeet Singh, Canada’s fourth largest party, are on the left side of the Liberal Party. The NDP provided support to liberal minority governments in the House until September, allowing them to redeem some of its central social policies in exchange for approval, but polls suggest that support is weakening.
How does Canadian election work?
Canada has its first post-election system. That means there are candidates who get the most votes on district victory, whether they have a majority or not. Voters elect local members of the House, rather than individual party leaders, as in the presidential system. The parties can choose a leader and become prime minister.
The country is divided into 343 constituencies known in Canada as riding, each serving seats in the House of Representatives.
To form a majority government, the party must win 172 seats. If most seats have less than 172, it can still form a minority government, but it requires the assistance of another party to pass the law.
What happens next?
In preparing for the election, Mr. Carney remains prime minister and technically continues to lead the country with his cabinet. But they are in “caregiver” mode and, under Canadian practice, they can focus only on the business they need, such as dealing with everyday and urgent issues. They cannot make new major or controversial decisions.
The parties and their leaders will soon hit the campaign trail. For Carney, this is a crucial time, unlike Polyeve, who is seasoned in retail politics, as he is not an experienced campaigner.
Both men travel around the vast country to secure support. Mr. Carney’s campaign is open to paying journalists a unique way to travel with him on the trail.
Poilievre’s campaign said he would not allow news media to join him on the trip, stressing that the decision was logistical reasons and that news coverage was welcome.
