Editor's note: This article originally appeared on ParliamentToday, a Village Media newsletter devoted exclusively to covering federal politics.
Canadians will head to the polls on April 28, voting in an election that’s shaping up to focus on U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariffs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Sunday that Governor General Mary Simon has agreed to dissolve Parliament to set off a general election next month, telling Rideau Hall reporters the Liberals need a “strong and positive mandate” from voters.
“We’ve done a lot in the nine days to put in place many of the foundations (of a new government),” said Carney, who was sworn in as the country’s 24th prime minister just over a week ago after decisively winning the Liberal Party leadership race on March 9.
“But what’s important is that the government has a mandate from the Canadian people to finish the job of building that Canadian economy, to finish the job of diversifying our trading partners, and to have a strong mandate to stand up to Donald Trump and the Americans."
Early campaigning saw the Liberal Party of Canada tout itself as best suited to take on the U.S. government amid a trade war, with further tariffs coming down the pipeline next month. In particular, the party has compared Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s politics to the U.S. president, an attack line Carney defended Sunday.
“First, the comparisons are quite easy,” he said. “A series of words plus proposals, which are uncannily familiar with the proposals of the Trump administration.”
Both Carney and Poilievre were asked Sunday about an interview Alberta Premier Danielle Smith gave to Breitbart, a right-wing American news outlet.
In it, she said that Trump’s tariffs were benefitting Canada’s Liberals and that she’d asked the Trump administration to “put things on pause so we can get through an election.”
Smith also said that she believes “the perspective that Pierre (Poilievre) would bring would be very much in sync with … the new direction in America.”
Poilievre responded by noting that Trump himself has said he believes it would be easier for him to deal with a Liberal prime minister than Poilievre.
“He's been very blunt that he wants a weak Canada that he can target, and Liberals, after the lost Liberal decade, have made our economy and our country weaker and more divided, just like Trump wanted,” said Poilievre. “Electing Liberals to a fourth term will weaken our country still.”
For his part, Carney noted Smith’s “alignment of Mr. Poilievre with Mr. Trump” but was more blunt in French by referring to Poilievre as a “Canadian Trump.”
In his remarks, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took Trump’s comments about a Liberal being easier to deal with as an “endorsement” of Carney and interpreted Elon Musk’s positive X posts about Poilievre the same way.
“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump has come out and endorsed Mark Carney. Elon Musk has endorsed Pierre Poilievre,” he said. “I’m the only federal candidate that is 100 per cent not endorsed by the Donald Trump administration.”
Candidates continue platform rollouts
Party leaders will have just over five weeks to crisscross the country and convince voters they are best suited to take on the president and his consistent threats, which include further tariffs in early April.
Carney has yet to speak with Trump over the phone, but said that before a broader discussion can happen on trade, the president would have to meet his “conditions” about respecting Canadian sovereignty.
The highly anticipated election call came after Carney met with premiers in Ottawa on Friday, with the prime minister announcing afterward that the federal government will temporarily waive a one-week EI waiting period for workers impacted by the trade war. On Sunday, Carney pitched a middle-income tax cut aimed at saving some families up to $825 annually, which the party believes will benefit about 22 million people.
Poilievre launched his campaign in Gatineau shortly before Carney spoke with Simon, arguing the Liberals do not deserve a fourth term in office and blaming the party for rising housing and food costs.
U.S. politics also framed the launch, with Poilievre arguing that he will protect Canada and “always put our country first.”
“We need to put Canada First — for a change, with a new Conservative government to axe taxes, reward work, unleash entrepreneurs, harvest our resources, make things here, build homes for our youth, secure our borders, rebuild our military, honour our history and proudly raise our flag,” he said in a statement.
Singh, who will be running his third election campaign, acknowledged the NDP is an “underdog” but insisted that his party isn’t going anywhere.
Carney to run in Nepean
As Carney is not an elected member of Parliament and holds no seat in the House, it was widely expected that he would call an election before the legislature was to resume on Monday. The party confirmed Saturday that he would run in the Ottawa riding of Nepean, a Liberal stronghold held by MP Chandra Arya.
The party told Arya this past weekend that his candidacy had been revoked. He’s represented the riding since 2015 and made a bid for Liberal leader, though that campaign was rejected.
Carney has been an Ottawa resident for two decades, he said, moving back to the city after his stint as governor of the Bank of England in London.
The Liberal leader said he was not part of the decision to prevent Arya from running, saying only that he chose to run in the riding because he “knows Nepean well.”
“From Barrhaven to Bells Corners and in between, it's an area I know well and, in many respects, it's representative of many of the aspects, not all the aspects, but many of the aspects of this country,” he said.
In the lead-up to Sunday's election call, the parties positioned their campaigns on social media. You can read about that here.