•Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney
A month before Canadians vote in an election dominated by threats from US President Donald Trump, leading candidates pledged yesterday to build an economy that can thrive without depending on its southern neighbour.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau this month, appears to have revitalised his Liberal Party, which just months ago looked headed towards a crushing electoral defeat, reports AFP.
Most polls ahead of the April 28 election show Carney’s Liberals slightly ahead of the Conservatives, whose leader Pierre Poilievre has struggled, experts say, to adjust his message in response to Trump.
The US president has repeatedly spoken about annexing Canada while pushing an array of tariffs that could force America’s northern neighbour and largest trading partner into recession.
Campaigning outside Toronto yesterday, Carney said, “Trump is trying to fundamentally restructure the US economy,” which will force Canada to “reimagine” its own.
“We need to build a new Canadian economy, a more resilient economy that can succeed in what will be a drastically different world,” Carney said.
Canada needs to be able to thrive “without any regard to what goes on in the United States,” he added.
Poilievre built momentum over the past year by attacking an increasingly unpopular Trudeau and by promising to address core issues like affordability, notably soaring housing costs.
His campaign has maintained a focus on rising costs but with added emphasis on Trump.
“It is time to turn Canada into an economic fortress that puts our country first for a change,” he said Monday in the eastern province of New Brunswick.
“With Donald Trump threatening our country with tariffs, we need big projects that link our regions, east to west. We need to be able to get our resources across Canada, bypassing America, so we can trade more with each other and sell our resources to the world.”
– Cost of living –
Julie Grignon, an account manager in the town of Magog in Quebec province, said Carney — who has never held elected office — was an unknown.
“We don’t know his personality,” she told our correspondent on Sunday.
But she said her top concern was how Canada’s economy can become more independent from the United States.
“If anyone knows economics, it’s Carney,” the 55-year-old said.
The prime minister has argued his experience has prepared him to lead Canada through economic turmoil.
He is a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and later governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
He also led the Bank of England through the Brexit vote and its aftermath.
But Poilievre maintains Carney is offering a continuation of Trudeau, whom the Conservatives accuse of poor economic management.
“President Trump has said he wants the Liberals back in power. We know why, because they will keep Canada weak and keep our investment flowing out of this country,” he said at a campaign stop on Sunday.
In the border town of Sarnia yesterday, where concern is building ahead of further Trump tariff announcements expected this week, Conservative voter Paul Sonier said the Liberals have failed to control costs since Trudeau was first elected in 2015.
“Look at what we have now as far as the price of everything. Who’s been in power for the last, I don’t know, 10 years?”
“It’s time for a change,” he told our correspondent.
– ‘Looking for a saviour’ –
Ottawa University politics professor Genevieve Tellier said the election comes at a “truly exceptional time for Canada.”
The country is “looking for a savior,” she told our correspondent.
After Trump announced his planned auto tariffs last week, Carney declared that the era of deep economic, security and military ties between Canada and the United States “is over.”
Tellier said Carney’s “firm tone” and explanation that “relations with the United States would never be the same again” seem to be resonating with voters.
Those remarks have “captured the current mood in Canada,” she said.
