Canadian parliamentary election: Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals win
According to initial projections, Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party has won Canada's parliamentary election. According to CTV and CBC, the governing party won more seats than the Conservatives of challenger Pierre Poilievre. Whether Carney will be able to govern with a majority government remains to be seen.
This is the fourth consecutive Canadian parliamentary election won by the Liberals, which is highly unusual in the history of the G7 country. Whether this would be enough for an absolute majority for the Liberals remained unclear at first. This would require at least 172 seats in Parliament in the capital, Ottawa, which corresponds to an absolute majority of the seats in the 343 electoral districts.
7.3 million eligible voters cast their ballots before the actual election day – a record number.
For a long time, the opposition Conservatives seemed to be in an unassailable lead in the polls – but then US President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policy and threats of annexation gave economist Carney a surprising boost. On election day, Trump again called on Canadians to agree to join the US.
Liberal economist Carney had taken over the positions of party leader and prime minister just a few weeks ago following an internal party vote from Justin Trudeau, who had announced his resignation earlier this year due to declining popularity after about ten years in office. Carney was also elected to Parliament for the first time.
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The 60-year-old brings national and international crisis experience and is considered resilient. During the financial crisis, he headed Canada's central bank. Canada's relatively good recovery from the global economic fallout is also credited to him. Between 2013 and 2020, Carney served as the UK's central bank governor during the turbulent Brexit period, and subsequently served as the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action until January of this year.
Carney advocates closer cooperation with Europe and Asia to reduce trade dependence on the U.S. According to polls, most Canadians trust him most to stand up to Trump.
The political style of the conservative leading candidate, Poilievre, on the other hand, clearly bears Trump's stance. The 45-year-old, who advocates low taxes and cuts in government spending, also spoke of fake news, a woke ideology of radical left forces, and promised to always put Canada first – "Canada First." This was well received for a long time – but then Trump came along.
Other key campaign issues included the sharp rise in the cost of living, rising rents, access to affordable housing, healthcare and migration.
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