On April 28, Canadians will find out who will form their next government: Mark Carney, the Liberal Party candidate who took over as prime minister when Justin Trudeau resigned last month, or his challenger Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party.
It was not supposed to be a close race.
In December, Poilievre and the Conservatives were easily leading the polls against the unpopular Trudeau. But US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and his threat to annex Canada shattered the political landscape and the parties are now running neck-and-neck. Carney is portraying himself as the right person to defend the nation against US imperialism.
“Our sovereignty faces the greatest threats in generations,” he said in a press conference in Halifax. “We’re defending our borders, our sovereignty, our minerals, our water, our land, our way of life.”
Carney, 60, a former governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, has never previously served as an elected official, but his finance background appeared to reassure electors. His opponent Poilievre, 45, is a seasoned politician who has already run in seven elections. He, too, is fighting a rhetorical war against US threats via social media.
Nevertheless, Poilievre would like to bring the debate back to Canadian grounds. He talks about rising housing costs and inflation. If elected, he says he will implement a C$14 billion ($9.8 billion) tax cut, saving an average two-income family C$1,800 a year.
Carney’s program would only save C$800 for a similar family but Canadians don’t appear to mind as much as they might have in past elections. They note that he opposes Trudeau’s unpopular consumer carbon tax and like his sports analogies. “In the trade war, just like in hockey, we will win,” he said in Halifax. François Philippe Champagne, Carney’s newly appointed finance minister, conveyed a similar message in March: “We’re not like some small country that you can push around. You’re picking on the wrong guy.”
