On Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that early elections will be held on April 28 and promised to fight Donald Trump's attempts to annex Canada, the country that borders the United States to the north.
Despite being selected by Canada's moderate Liberal Party to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister, Carney has never had to deal with the general public.
That will change as Carney brought parliamentary elections forward several months from October.
He clarified that the US president’s barrage of trade and sovereignty threats will be the focus of his campaign.
“I’ve just requested that the governor general dissolve parliament and call an election for April 28. She has agreed,” Carney said in a speech to the nation, referring to King Charles III’s representative in Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth.
The Liberal government had been in power for a decade and had slid into deep unpopularity, but Carney hoped to ride a wave of Canadian patriotism to a new majority.
“I’m asking Canadians for a strong, positive mandate to deal with President Trump,” Carney said, adding that the Republican “wants to break us, so America can own us. We will not let that happen.”
“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” Carney said.
“Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada,” he added, pledging not to meet Trump until he recognises Canadian sovereignty.
Recall that Trump has riled his northern neighbour by repeatedly dismissing its borders as artificial and urging it to join the United States as the 51st state.
The ominous remarks have been accompanied by Trump’s trade war, with the imposition of tariffs on imports from Canada threatening to severely damage its economy.
Domestic issues, such as the cost of living and immigration, usually dominate Canadian elections, but this time, one key topic tops the list in this country of 41 million people: who can best handle Trump?
The president’s open hostility toward his northern neighbor — a NATO ally and historically one of his country’s closest partners — has upended the Canadian political landscape.
Trudeau was deeply unpopular when he announced his resignation, and Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives were seen as election favourites just weeks ago.
However, since Trump’s threats, the polls have narrowed in favour of Carney’s Liberals, who hold a minority in parliament, and analysts are now describing the race as too close to call.
“Many consider this to be an existential election, unprecedented,” Felix Mathieu, a political scientist at the University of Winnipeg, told AFP.
Trump professed not to care about who wins the Canadian election while pushing ahead with plans to strengthen tariffs against Ottawa and other major trading partners on April 2.
“I don’t care who wins up there,” Trump said this week.
“But just a little while ago, before I got involved and totally changed the election, which I don’t care about … the Conservative was leading by 35 points.”