Canada’s Mark Carney and his Liberal Party have claimed a remarkable election victory, following a campaign dominated by Donald Trump’s trade war, and in the aftermath of a deadly car-ramming attack in Vancouver.
While it is still unclear whether the party will win an outright majority of the 343 seats in the Canadian parliament, it marks an impressive turnaround given the Conservatives were ahead in the polls by double digits a few months ago. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre also appears set to lose his own seat after earlier congratulating Mr Carney on the Liberal’s election win.
In his victory speech in Ottawa, Mr Carney declared that “President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never — that will never, ever happen.”
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” he said, referring to the American president’s threats to Canada’s economy and its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state of the US.
Carney says trade deal with Trump will happen ‘on our terms’ after his historic win
Mark Carney has said that Canada will deal with Donald Trump “on our terms”.
The Canadian prime minister also told the BBC the US should respect his country.
As the polls were closing, Mr Carney pledged to only visit Washington once a “serious discussion” that respects Canada’s sovereignty can be had.
In response to the US president’s repeated calls for Canada to become the “51st state”, Mr Carney said that was “never, ever going to happen”.
He added: “Frankly, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen with respect to any other [country]… whether it’s Panama or Greenland or elsewhere.”
Mr Carney described securing a deal with the US over trade and security while building on trading relationships with the EU and the UK as a “win-win possibility”.
Canada’s election in numbers
The Liberal Party under Mark Carney secured a win just shy of a majority with the Conservatives seeing their best performance in 14 years.
Data correspondent Alicja Hagopian has looked at the data, with 99 per cent of results reported so far:
Candidate who ousted Conservative leader says Trump was a key issue
In a stunning election result, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is set to lose the Ottawa seat he has held for more than 20 years.
Bruce Fanjoy, the Liberal candidate projected to win with currently over 50 per cent of the vote, said a positive message had helped his campaign.
But Fanjoy also attributed the swing away from the Conservatives to US President Donald Trump.
“People in Carleton are very concerned about Donald Trump and the tariffs and what that means for our economy,” he told CBC Radio on Tuesday morning.
“They’re been looking for serious leadership and they saw that in in Mark Carney’s Liberals.”
Canada won’t know until later today whether Liberals won a majority
Canadians won’t know until later on Tuesday whether the Liberal Party has won a majority or if it must negotiate with minor parties to govern, after vote counting was paused.
Elections Canada said it decided to pause counting of special ballots – cast by voters who are away from their districts during the election – until later Tuesday.
The Liberals were leading or elected in 168 seats out of Parliament’s 343 when counting was paused, four short of a majority.
Elections Canada estimated that uncounted votes could affect the result in about a dozen districts.
Watch: Carney makes dig at Trump in Canada election victory speech
Celebrating his election victory, Mark Carney warned that the US president’s suggestions that Canada should become the 51st state were not “idle threats.”
Analysis: Donald Trump has met his match in Mark Carney
Sean O’Grady writes that the newly elected prime minister could yet lead a new global resistance:
President Donald Trump’s childish remarks – about how his northern neighbour would be better off as the 51st state, about former “governor” Justin Trudeau, and how America was “subsidising” Canada by hundreds of millions of dollars a year – certainly re-awakened a keen sense of national pride in Canadians. It also inflicted deep damage on Trump’s nominal local ally, Pierre Poilevre.
Mark Carney’s victory carries an important lesson for the rest of the world: it pays to stand up to Trump. It is rumoured that Carney recently threatened Trump with a fire sale of Canada’s considerable holdings of US Treasury bonds, something that Carney has smilingly declined to deny in a television interview.
As a former central banker, Carney would have well-understood the sobering effects such a move would – and did – have on American policy.
Carney is respected globally, and for good reason. Trump didn’t know what he was up against. But all of Carney’s expertise would have been worthless without his mandate from the Canadian people, now confirmed.
Trump was ‘no good for the Conservatives’ in Canadian election
Just a few months ago, Conservative firebrand Pierre Poilievre was all but set to win the Canadian election.
But an escalating trade war with the US and repeated threats from Donald Trump to turn Canada into the 51st US state severely dampened support for the Conservatives, with Mark Carney claiming victory for the Liberals on Monday night.
Reid Warren, a Toronto resident, said he voted Liberal because Poilievre “sounds like mini-Trump to me.” He said Trump’s tariffs were a worry.
“Canadians coming together from, you know, all the shade being thrown from the States is great, but it’s definitely created some turmoil, that’s for sure,” he said.
Historian Robert Bothwell said Poilievre appealed to the “same sense of grievance” as Trump, but that it ultimately worked against him.
“The Liberals ought to pay him,” Bothwell said, referring to the US. president. “Trump talking is not good for the Conservatives.”
Vote counting paused
Vote counting has been paused for the moment, meaning that whether the Liberal Party won a decisive victory will remain unclear for the next few hours at least.
Elections Canada said it has decided to pause counting of special ballots – cast by voters who are away from their districts during the election – until later Tuesday morning.
The Liberals were leading or elected in 168 seats when the counting was paused, four short of a majority. Elections Canada estimated that the uncounted votes could affect the result in about a dozen districts.
The decision means Canadians won’t know until later in the day whether Carney’s Liberals have won a minority or majority mandate.
Carney’s potential minority government will be ‘very fragile’
Counting is continuing after polls closed in Canada on Monday evening, with Mark Carney’s Liberal Party expected to win 168 seats.
That is four short of the 172 required to form government in their own right, meaning Carney will need the support of the New Democratic Party and potentially the Greens to gain a majority.
“That’s … very fragile,” said Philippe Lagasse, a professor and constitutional expert at Ottawa’s Carleton University. “Every confidence vote will be stressful. Every by-election will be quite consequential.”
Minority governments in Canada do not usually last longer than 2.5 years.
Main takeaways from Canadian election results so far
Canadians went to the polls on Monday to vote in an election overshadowed by US President Donald Trump. Here are the main takeaways so far.
Final results aren’t in, but Liberal Party will form government
Preliminary results so far show the Liberal Party winning the most seats, with Mark Carney claiming victory on Monday night.
The official vote tally projects the Liberal Party will win 168 seats, just four short of the number required to win majority government in their own right.
National Democratic Party vote collapsed
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh conceded supporters of the left-leaning party would be disappointed, after an election rout reduced the NDP to just seven seats from its previous 24.
Two party leaders lose their seats
In a stunning shift, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre went from prime minister-in-waiting just months ago, to facing the loss of his seat.
Liberal Party candidate Bruce Fanjoy has won 50.6 per cent of the vote in the Ontario riding so far, while Poilievre gained 46.1 per cent of the popular vote.
Singh has also lost his seat, to Conservative James Yan.
Source: independent.co.uk
