TORONTO: Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s Liberal Party won Canada\u2019s federal election on Monday, capping a stunning turnaround in fortunes fueled by US President Donald Trump\u2019s annexation threats and trade war.
\nThe Liberals are projected to win more of Parliament\u2019s 343 seats than the Conservatives, though it wasn\u2019t clear yet if they would win an outright majority, which would allow them to pass legislation without needing help.
\nThe Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada\u2019s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump\u2019s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.
\nThe opposition Conservative Party\u2019s leader, Pierre Poilievre, hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose.
\nBut Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became the Liberal Party\u2019s leader and prime minister.
\nTrump was even trolling Canada on election day, suggesting on social media that he was in fact on the ballot and repeating that Canada should become the 51st state \u2014 an assertion that Canadians find deeply insulting. He also erroneously claimed that the US subsidizes Canada, writing, \u201cIt makes no sense unless Canada is a State!\u201d
\nPoilievre, who has been criticized for not taking a firmer stance against Trump, responded with a post of his own.
\n\u201cPresident Trump, stay out of our election. The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box,\u201d he posted hours before polls closed. \u201cCanada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state.\u201d
\nUntil Trump won a second term and began threatening Canada\u2019s economy and sovereignty, the Liberals looked headed for defeat. But Trump\u2019s truculence has infuriated many Canadians, leading many to cancel US vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early. A record 7.3 million Canadians cast ballots before election day.
\nTrump\u2019s attacks also put Poilievre and the opposition Conservative Party on the defensive and led to a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative.
\n\u201cThe Americans want to break us so they can own us,\u201d Carney said recently, laying out what he saw as the election\u2019s stakes. \u201cThose aren\u2019t just words. That\u2019s what\u2019s at risk.\u201d
\nElection day came as the country grappled with the fallout from a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street fair that led to the suspension of campaigning for several hours. Police ruled out terrorism and said the suspect is a local man with a history of mental health issues.
\nTrump became the main issue
\nPoilievre and his wife walked hand-in-hand to vote in their district in the nation\u2019s capital, Ottawa. \u201cGet out to vote for a change,\u201d he implored voters.
\nSisters Laiqa and Mahira Shoaib said they did just that, with Laiqa, a 27-year-old health care worker, voting for the progressive New Democratic Party, and Mahira, a 25-year-old bank worker, backing the Conservatives.
\nThe sisters, who immigrated from Pakistan a decade ago, said the economy has worsened and job opportunities have dried up under Liberal rule.
\nAfter the sisters voted at a community center in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, Mahira Shoaib said she thinks Poilievre is best equipped to improve Canada\u2019s finances.
\n\u201cHe is business-minded, and that\u2019s what we need right now,\u201d she said.
\nAfter Trump became the election\u2019s central issue, Poilievre\u2019s similarities to the bombastic American president might have cost him.
\nReid Warren, a Toronto resident, said he voted Liberal because Poilievre \u201csounds like mini-Trump to me.\u201d And he said Trump\u2019s tariffs are a worry.
\n\u201cCanadians coming together from, you know, all the shade being thrown from the States is great, but it\u2019s definitely created some turmoil, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cHe appeals to the same sense of grievance,\u201d Canadian historian Robert Bothwell said of the Conservative leader. \u201cIt\u2019s like Trump standing there saying, \u2018I am your retribution.\u2019\u201d
\n\u201cThe Liberals ought to pay him,\u201d Bothwell added, referring to the American president. \u201cTrump talking is not good for the Conservatives.\u201d
\nForeign policy hadn\u2019t dominated a Canadian election as much since 1988 when, ironically, free trade with the United States was the prevailing issue.
\nBig challenges await the Liberals
\nCarney and the Liberals cleared a big hurdle in winning a fourth-straight term, but they have daunting tasks ahead.
\nIn addition to the sweeping US tariffs on Canadian goods, Canada has been dealing with a cost-of-living crisis for some time. And more than 75 percent of its exports go to the US, so Trump\u2019s tariffs threat and his desire to get North American automakers to move Canada\u2019s production south could severely damage the Canadian economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TORONTO: Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s Liberal Party won Canada\u2019s federal election on Monday, capping a stunning turnaround in fortunes fueled by US President Donald Trump\u2019s annexation threats and trade war. The Liberals are projected to win more of Parliament\u2019s 343 seats than the Conservatives, though it wasn\u2019t clear yet if they would win an outright …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":80321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80322,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80306\/revisions\/80322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}