6 days Ago
Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals have retained power in Canada's election but fell short of the majority government he had wanted to help him negotiate tariffs with US President Donald Trump. Login or signup to continue reading The Liberals were leading or elected in 167 electoral districts, known as seats, followed by the Conservatives with 145, with votes still being counted. The Liberals had needed to win 172 of the House of Commons' 343 seats for a majority that would allow them to govern without support from a smaller party.
"Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over," Carney said in a victory speech in Ottawa. "The system of open global trade anchored by the United States, a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has helped deliver prosperity for our country for decades, is over." The result capped a notable comeback for the Liberals, who had been 20 percentage points behind in the polls in January before former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced he was quitting and US President Donald Trump started threatening tariffs and annexation.
"America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country," Carney said. "These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us.
That will never ever happen." Carney promised a tough approach with Washington over its import tariffs and said Canada would need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre conceded defeat to Carney's Liberals and said his party would hold the government to account.
"We'll have plenty of opportunity to debate and disagree, but tonight we come together as Canadians ...
We will do our job to hold the government to account," he said in a speech in Ottawa. "We are cognisant of the fact that we didn't get over the finish line yet," Poilievre added. "We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by.
It takes time. It takes work. And that's why we have to learn the lessons of tonight - so that we can have an even better result the next time Canadians decide the future of the country.
" Trump's threats ignited a wave of patriotism that swelled support for Carney, a political newcomer who previously led two G7 central banks. Trump re-emerged as a campaign factor last week, declaring that he might raise a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian-made cars because the US does not want them. He said earlier that he might use "economic force" to make Canada the 51st state.
Carney emphasised that his experience handling economic issues makes him the best leader to deal with Trump, while Poilievre tapped into concerns about the cost of living, crime and a housing crisis. Tensions with the US have caused supporters of two smaller parties, the left-leaning New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, to shift to the Liberals. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh conceded defeat in his own district and said he planned to quit as party leader.
The Conservatives appeared on track to make gains in the seat-rich Toronto area to prevent a Liberal majority government, but Poilievre was trailing in his own Ottawa-area district, with votes still being counted. The Liberals are the last party to win four consecutive elections in Canada, accomplishing the feat in 2004. Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, a polling firm, told Reuters the Liberals' win hinged on three factors.
"It was the 'anybody-but-Conservative' factor, it was the Trump tariff factor, and then it was the Trudeau departure ...
which enabled a lot of left-of-centre voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party," Kurl said. Poilievre focused his campaign on domestic issues and the need to fix a country that he said the Liberals had "broken." Reuters and DPA Australian Associated Press Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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