Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday called for a federal election on April 28, cementing another major event on the calendar as the country experienced one of its most turbulent and unpredictable periods.
President Trump imposed painful tariffs on Canada and said there were more tax rates, while also threatening its sovereignty, opening up America’s closest allies and trading partners, and working closely together in decades in each field.
“We are facing the greatest crisis of our life due to President Trump's unreasonable trade practices and his threat to our sovereignty,” Mr. Carney told Ottawa's news outlet.
“President Trump claims that Canada is not a real country. He wants to break us so that the United States can have us.” “We won't let that happen. We've gotten rid of the shock of betrayal, but we should never forget the course.”
Mr. Carney, 60, is a political newbie, with a long career in central banking and finance, and was elected only as the leader of the Canadian Liberal Party on March 9 and was sworn in on March 14. He replaced Justin Trudeau, who led the liberals for 13 years and has occupied nearly a decade of history but has long been unpopular.
Mr. Carney is generally expected to call for a quick election. He has no seat in Canada's parliament, and the Liberals do not have a majority, meaning their government is likely to fall as early as Monday's distrust vote without calling for elections.
The main opponent of the liberals is the conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre.
Mr. Trump’s positive stance on Canada brings good news to liberals and Mr. Carney. Before Mr. Trump took office, the Conservatives took double digits in the polls, and Mr. Poilievre's victory seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
However, voters have grown increasingly worried that Mr. Poilievre is too ideologically similar to Mr. Trump to stand up, while many have attracted Mr. Carney’s economics experience and a long career on the international stage.
Polls show Mr Carney and the liberals have removed the Conservative Party's 25% lead, and the two entered the election-era neck and neck.
Mr. Poilievre tried to align himself with Mr. Trump before Mr. Carney called on Sunday morning.
“What we need to do is put Canada first,” Mr. Poilievre said. “When I say I want to cut taxes, free up our resources, bring back work, that’s bad news for President Trump.”
Who is running?
Mr. Carney and the liberals will balance the Conservatives with Mr. Poilievre, 45, a professional politician whose name is not afraid to adopt some of Mr. Trump's style.
Mr. Poilievre, a mainstream conservative, has long supported deregulation, tax cuts and abandonment of Trudeau era environmental policies to enable Canada to expand its broad exploitation of its natural resources, mainly oil and gas.
Mr. Poilievre also dabbled in the theme of cultural war from Mr. Trump and borrowed language from him: he attacked the customs of “wake up” and politicians, called for a refund to NBC, and said he believed there were only two genders.
He also said he wanted Canada to be the world's cryptocurrency capital, with the same affinity for alternative financial assets as Mr. Trump.
By contrast, Mr. Carney has been in the public eye for decades, but has not been politically capable. During the 2008 global financial crisis, he and the Bank of England were governors of Bank of Canada during the Brexit.
He has since held senior positions in the private sector, and in recent years he has become an outstanding advocate for sustainable investment and has served as the United Nations’ special envoy for climate action and finance.
In his short days in office, Mr. Carney encountered fluent economics and comfort on the global stage, but was not used to the careful scrutiny of his personal affairs, which was not uncommon for those running for senior public office.
He proved himself more central than his predecessor, Mr. Trudeau. Mr Carney also promised tax cuts for the lowest income range when he announced the rush election on Sunday. Over the past few days, he has adopted some of Mr. Poilievre’s centrist positions, including the removal of household and small business taxes on carbon emissions and the removal of planned taxes on capital gains.
The third party of the House of Commons, the Quebec group, is led by Yves-François Blanchet and is committed to Quebec nationalism.
Canada's fourth largest political party is the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh, which is the Liberal left. The NDP didn't provide support to the Liberal government until September and was able to obtain some core social policies in exchange for approval, but polls showed that its support was weakening.
How does Canadian election work?
Canada has a first-term electoral system, which means candidates who get the most votes in regional victories, whether they win a majority or not. Voters elect local members of the House of Commons, rather than leaders of individual parties as they do in the presidential system. The parties choose their leaders and then they can become prime ministers.
The country is divided into 343 electoral districts, known as horseback riding in Canada, each of which corresponds to the seats in the House of Commons.
To form a majority government, one side needs to win 172 seats. If the party with the largest seats has less than 172 people, it can still form a minority government, but it requires the support of the other party to pass legislation.
What will happen next?
During the election, Mr. Carney will continue to serve as prime minister and technically, he will continue to lead the country with the cabinet. But they will be in a “carekeeper” mode, and according to Canadian practice, they can only focus on necessary businesses, such as handling daily affairs or urgent matters. They cannot make new major or controversial decisions.
All parties and their leaders will enter the campaign immediately. It would be a crucial moment for Mr. Carney, as he is not an experienced campaigner, unlike Mr. Poilievre, who has experienced retail politics.
The two will travel the entire country in an attempt to gain support. Mr. Carney’s campaign will be open to journalists to travel with him on his own way.
Mr Poilievre's campaign said the news media did not allow him to travel with him, stressing that his decision was for logistical reasons and was welcomed by news reports.
