The Liberal Party is projected to win Canada’s federal parliamentary elections, with Prime Minister Mark Carney remaining in office.
The CBC made the projection just after 10:00pm as the Liberals pulled ahead and the possibility for the Conservatives to close the gap evaporated.
It remains to be seen whether Carney’s party will be able to scoop up enough seats to reach the 172 threshold that will allow them to form a majority government.
The victory will continue almost a decade of Liberal leadership under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The former drama teacher’s widespread popularity in his first term slowly collapsed to just barely above 20% by the time he stepped down.
Trudeau resigned in January as the Liberals held a grim 16% voter intention.
Carney was elected internally by the Liberal Party to replace the outgoing prime minister and support for the Liberal Party quickly climbed.
Carney almost immediately called the Apr. 28 election in an attempt to capitalize on his party’s surging numbers. It was also a gamble to obtain a real mandate from the public — prior to Monday, Carney never stood in a public election.
The leadership switch resurrected the Liberal Party’s support among voters, heading into the election with 42.8% in the polls against Conservatives’ 39.2%.
He worked hard to differentiate himself from Trudeau’s government, seeking a fresh start and blank slate. Supporters were pleased with his extensive economic experience from past positions heading the Bank of Canada and Bank of England.
The election was in many ways a national referendum on how Canada will respond to the belligerence of President Donald Trump. The White House implemented heavy tariffs against its northern neighbor in February, ostensibly as punishment for failing to curb illegal trafficking of migrants and drugs over the border.
The tariffs have waxed, waned, and reshuffled since being rolled out, seeming to change with Trump’s mercurial mood.
Additionally, the U.S. president continues to ruffle feathers in the north with his repeated proposals to annex Canada and make it the “51st state.”
Candidates of all backgrounds and political ideologies were united in their perception of Trump as the preeminent threat to the nation. Each party worked throughout the five weeks of campaigning to paint their candidate as the only man capable of standing up to the U.S.
T-shirts and ball caps bearing slogans such as “Canada is not for sale” and “Never 51” sit in shops across the country. The public is embracing the hockey phrase “elbows up” as a nationalistic rallying cry.
The Liberals attempted to tie Poilievre to Trump due to his previous positivity towards the Make America Great Again movement.
Poilievre rebuked that association and instead blamed the Liberal policies under Trudeau for letting Canada become weak enough to be bullied by its southern neighbor. The Conservatives spent the weeks since Carney was elected trying to tie the prime minister to his predecessor.
BLOC QUEBECOIS WANTS TO FREE QUEBEC FROM ‘ARTIFICIAL COUNTRY’ OF CANADA
Trump took a final shot at Canadian politicians as the country’s voters headed to the polls for the federal parliamentary election.
Trump, whose shadow looms over the country as the premier economic threat, wished “good luck” to the “great people of Canada” on Monday and took a moment to weigh in on who they should vote for.
“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st State of the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
