Canadian PM Carney calls snap election, says Trump wants to break Canada

OTTAWA – New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on March 23 called a snap election for April 28, saying he needed a strong mandate to deal with the threat posed by US President Donald Trump, who “wants to break us so America can own us”.

The comments showed the extent to which relations between the US and Canada, two long-time allies and major trading partners, have deteriorated since Mr Trump

imposed tariffs on Canada

and threatened to annex it as the 51st US state.

Although the next election is not due until Oct 20, Mr Carney is hoping to capitalise on a remarkable recovery by his Liberal Party in the polls since January, when Mr Trump began threatening Canada and former prime minister Justin Trudeau

announced his resignation

.

Upon being

sworn in as prime minister on March 14,

Mr Carney had said he could work with and respected Mr Trump. On March 23, however, he took a more combative approach.

“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” Mr Carney told reporters after the governor-general – the personal representative of King Charles, Canada’s head of state – approved his request for an election.

“Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada. President Trump claims that Canada isn’t a real country. He wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr Carney’s remarks.

Mr Trump on March 6 delayed a broad 25 per cent tariff on some Canadian goods for 30 days. He has since imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and

threatened reciprocal tariffs on additional goods,

including Canadian dairy and lumber, on April 2.

Laying the groundwork

“The polling suggests that the No. 1 concern that Canadians have right now is the potential negative fallout of Donald Trump and the threatened tariffs,” said Mr Nik Nanos, chief data scientist and founder of pollster Nanos Research.

Mr Carney is “probably setting the groundwork for something a little more strident on April 2”, Mr Nanos said.

Mr Carney, a former two-time central banker with no previous political or election campaign experience,

captured the Liberal leadership

two weeks ago by persuading party members he was the best person to tackle Mr Trump.

Now he has five weeks to win over Canadians. On March 23, Mr Carney proposed cutting the lowest income tax bracket by 1 percentage point. Polls suggest the Liberals, who have been in power since 2015 and badly trailed the official opposition Conservatives at the start of 2025, are now slightly ahead of their rivals.

“We moved from an election where people wanted change to an election that is really much more about leadership,” said Mr Darrell Bricker, chief executive of Ipsos Public Affairs.

“The ability of the Conservatives to attack the Liberals has been greatly diminished, because people are focused on the here and now and the near-term future, not on what happened over the last 10 years,” he said by phone.

The Conservatives have sought to portray Mr Carney as an elitist who plans to continue the Trudeau-era policy of high government spending. They also accuse him of being less than clear about how he transferred his personal financial assets into a blind trust.

He bristled last week when asked about the trust, and accused the reporter asking of engaging in “conflict and ill will”. The prickly reaction could give hope to the Conservatives that Mr Carney might stumble during what will be his first campaign.

Key to any victory will be a good performance in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec. He had trouble at one press conference when asked to respond in French, first misunderstanding the question and then answering in English.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, on the other hand, speaks flawless French and is a seasoned politician who has fought seven elections.

Politics professor Laura Stephenson, from Western University in the Canadian city of London, said Mr Carney’s inexperience might not be that important, given the Trump factor.

“There’s a different kind of comparison that’s being made right between the leaders and what are they going to be able to do,” she said. “I have a feeling we’re going to see a little more grace extended than is usually given to politicians during this campaign.”

An online Angus Reid Institute poll of 4,009 people released on March 17 put the Liberals on 42 per cent public support and the Conservatives on 37 per cent. The institute said the margin of error was around 1.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

An online Leger poll of 1,568 people for the National Post released the same day put the Liberals on 42 per cent, with the Conservatives on 39 per cent. Leger said the margin of error was around 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20. REUTERS