In order to address the threat posed by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs to the economy, new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a snap election on April 28, reports RTE.
Even though the next election isn’t until October 20, Mr. Carney wants to take advantage of his Liberal party’s impressive comeback in the polls since January, when Mr. Trump started threatening Canada and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned.
“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 said, reports RTE.
“There is so much more to do to secure Canada. To invest in Canada, to build Canada, to unite Canada. That’s why I’m asking for a strong positive mandate from my fellow Canadians. I’ve just requested that the Governor General dissolve Parliament and call an election for April 28th, and she has agreed,” Mr Carney told reporters after the Governor General, the personal representative of Britain’s King Charles, Canada’s head of state, approved his request for an election, reports RTE.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Carney, a former two-time central banker who had no prior political or election campaign experience, won the Liberal leadership by convincing party members that he was the most qualified individual to take on Mr. Trump.
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He now has five weeks to gain the support of Canadians.
The Liberals, who have held office since 2015, are currently marginally ahead of their opponents, according to polls. At the beginning of the year, they were far behind the main opposition Conservatives.
“We moved from an election where people wanted change to an election that’s really much more about leadership. 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 ten years,” said Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, reports RTE.
The Conservatives have attempted to paint Mr. Carney as an elitist who intends to carry on the high-government spending strategy of the Trudeau administration.
Additionally, they claim that he was unclear about how he moved his personal assets into a blind trust.
When questioned about the trust last week, Mr. Carney became irate and accused the reporter of “conflict and ill will,” reports RTE.
The Conservatives may be encouraged by the prickly response that Mr. Carney will make a mistake during his first campaign.
A strong showing in Quebec, a province with a large French-speaking population, will be essential to any triumph, reports RTE.
When asked to react in French during a news conference, Mr. Carney struggled, misinterpreting the question before responding in English.
Conversely, Pierre Poilievre, the head of the Conservative Party, is an experienced politician with seven elections under his belt and speaks perfect French, reports RTE.
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