Canadian Voters Head to the Polls Amid Rising Tensions with the US

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Canadian Voters Head to the Polls Amid Rising Tensions with the US

 

Canadians turned out to vote on Monday in a national election shaped by economic instability, US tariffs, and unprecedented annexation threats from their southern neighbor.

 

The outcome will determine whether Prime Minister Mark Carney secures a full four-year term or whether the Conservative Party, after nearly a decade out of power, will take control of the government. Voting officially began at 8:30 a.m. local time in Newfoundland and Labrador, marking the start of a day closely watched both domestically and internationally.

 

The election has been heavily influenced by Canada’s increasingly strained relationship with the United States. US President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Canadian exports has threatened the economic health of the nation. His provocative remarks about making Canada the "51st state" have further fueled outrage across the political spectrum. "I reject any attempts to weaken Canada, to wear us down, to break us so that America can own us," Carney declared to reporters in March. "We are masters in our own home."

 

 

The primary contest pits Carney’s Liberals against the Conservative Party, led by veteran parliamentarian Pierre Poilievre. Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, took over as Prime Minister in March after Justin Trudeau resigned amid poor polling numbers and mounting political pressure. Assuming leadership during an intensifying trade war, Carney adopted a firm stance, upholding retaliatory tariffs initiated under Trudeau’s government.

 

Carney’s campaign has focused on portraying himself as a centrist leader capable of guiding Canada through economic turbulence. "I understand how the world works," Carney told podcaster Nate Erskine-Smith in October. "I know people who run some of the world’s largest companies and understand how they work. I know how financial institutions work. I know how markets work…I’m trying to apply that to the benefit of Canada." He has also promised to "build things in this country again" to reduce Canada’s economic dependence on the United States, pledging to invest in homes, factories, and both "clean and conventional energy" sources.

 

"My solemn promise is to stand up for Canadian workers, to stand up for Canadian businesses," Carney said in March. "We will stand up for our history, our values and our sovereignty."

 

Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre has sought to channel voter frustration with the status quo, framing the election as a choice between ordinary Canadians and entrenched "Ottawa elites." "The same people who ran Justin Trudeau are now running Mark Carney," Poilievre said at a rally shortly after Carney assumed office. "Liberals are trying to trick Canadians into electing them for a fourth term in power."

 

Poilievre’s "Canada first" platform advocates slashing government spending, reducing bureaucracy, and loosening environmental regulations to ramp up resource extraction. "Conservatives will axe taxes, build homes, fix the budget," Poilievre promised in March, vowing to "unleash our economic independence by building pipelines, mines, [liquified natural gas] plants and other economic infrastructure that will allow us to sell to ourselves and the rest of the world."

 

Despite stylistic similarities to Trump’s populism, Poilievre has tried to maintain distance from the American president during the campaign. After Trump publicly encouraged Canadians to support him, Poilievre responded firmly, telling Trump in a social media post to "stay out" of Canada’s election.

 

As election day approached, voter turnout appeared to be high. Elections Canada reported that at least 7.3 million Canadians voted early, a 25% increase over the 2021 federal election. "I voted on the first day of advance polls and I waited 45 minutes," said Kristina Ennis from St. John’s, Newfoundland. "I know people who waited over an hour."

 

The final results will determine not only the future direction of Canada’s domestic policy but also how the country navigates an increasingly volatile relationship with its most powerful neighbor.

 

  Adpated by ASEAN Now from CNN  2025-04-29

 

 

 

[Tug]

Good luck my northern neighbor I hope you guys and gals much success and prosperity!

[Pouatchee]

MCGFO = Make Canada Great For Once

[daveAustin]

Canada should annex Alaska as the 11th province and develop nuclear weapons. 

[sharot724]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/carneys-liberals-beat-conservatives-ctv-news-declares-will-form-minority-government/

[Hanaguma]

Well, crap .   Hoping for a different result, but there ya go 

 

All I can say is congratulations to PM Carney and let's get to work restoring prosperity and patriotism in Canada.

[impulse]

Kudos to the Canucks for voting on paper ballots, with the results known on the day.

 

Voting for the liberals?  Again?...  That's not going to end well for them.

 

[Hanaguma]

1 minute ago, impulse said:

Kudos to the Canucks for voting on paper ballots, with the results known on the day.

 

Voting for the liberals?  Again...  That's not going to end well for them.

 

We can only hope that Carney 2.0 more closely resembles. 2008 Carney than the 2020 version.

[save the frogs]

The Don weighs in ....

 

[hotsun]

4 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

The Don weighs in ....

 

No border with canada means free entry back in for all the illegals and criminals hiding there currently. No thanks

[MalcolmB]

9 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

The Don weighs in ....

 

What a raving lunatic.

He alone is the reason the conservatives lost in Canada.

[Tug]

Congratulations Canada let us know when you want to annex California Oregon and Washington state we are tired of supporting the failed red states and like your freedom of choice and your healthcare!!

[Hanaguma]

6 minutes ago, Tug said:

Congratulations Canada let us know when you want to annex California Oregon and Washington state we are tired of supporting the failed red states and like your freedom of choice and your healthcare!!

Sadly Tug my friend, we have neither freedom of choice or freedom of our healthcare.  Both are rather heavily regulated.   I am just praying that Carney doesnt follow the worst of Trudeau's idiotic policies and pandering. He is definitely more intelligent than Trudeau, hopefully that translates into a more pragmatic way of government.

[Tug]

3 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

Sadly Tug my friend, we have neither freedom of choice or freedom of our healthcare.  Both are rather heavily regulated.   I am just praying that Carney doesnt follow the worst of Trudeau's idiotic policies and pandering. He is definitely more intelligent than Trudeau, hopefully that translates into a more pragmatic way of government.

I’m hoping for the absolute best for and prosperity for you guys up north!

[Hanaguma]

59 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

What a raving lunatic.

He alone is the reason the conservatives lost in Canada.

Not alone, but it was a big factor for sure.  I don't know whether it was part of a strategy to help Carney, or just being mouthy and unhelpful.  Whatever, the Liberals were able to use it to fear-monger their way to power again.  TBH I am not happy with him now...

[Hanaguma]

2 minutes ago, Tug said:

I’m hoping for the absolute best for and prosperity for you guys up north!

Thanks.  IMHO it goes both ways. Hard for one of us to be prosperous without the other.  Living next to the US is mostly a benefit, gives us access to the largest consumer market in the world. At the same time, it would be better to diversify our trading partners to create more competition.

 

Also, we are 20 years behind in maximizing the use of our natural resources. It has to stop.  And Canadians have to stop being so wishywashy and emotional.  Nothing wrong with being aggressive and successful, yet too many of my countrymen suffer from "Tall Poppy Syndrome". And too many reflexively describe their identity as being simply not American. 

[Woke to Sounds]

1 hour ago, Hanaguma said:

We can only hope that Carney 2.0 more closely resembles. 2008 Carney than the 2020 version.

Carns is a net zero fanatic according to his book.

 

That does not bode well for Canadians just wanting a steak on the table and a country drive.

 

Plus there is the question of censorship heavy handedness.

 

But I called this result months ago.

 

Oy vey...

[Hanaguma]

Singh has lost his seat, and has resigned as NDP leader. Polievre is currently behind in his riding, by a substantial margin, and may also lose his seat.  Might cost him his job too...

[JonnyF]

Looks like the Canucks have cut off their nose to spite their face.

 

Good luck with Carney. 

 

 

[impulse]

12 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

Singh has lost his seat, and has resigned as NDP leader. Polievre is currently behind in his riding, by a substantial margin, and may also lose his seat.  Might cost him his job too...

 

As I understand it from the cheap seats, Polievre was doing okay until he started badmouthing Trump. 

 

He may have done even worse had he not started badmouthing Trump, but someone from the Great White North would have to fill me in. 

 

The saddest thing is that Canada will be doing better than before when the tariff/51st-state dust settles.  The election was just bad luck in the timing.

 

[placeholder]

9 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

Singh has lost his seat, and has resigned as NDP leader. Polievre is currently behind in his riding, by a substantial margin, and may also lose his seat.  Might cost him his job too...

Well, if he loses it's kind of a victory for Poilievre since he did campaign on a platform of change...

[placeholder]

2 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

As I understand it from the cheap seats, he was doing okay until he started badmouthing Trump. 

 

He may have done even worse had he not started badmouthing Trump, but someone from the Great White North would have to fill me in. 

 

The saddest thing is that Canada will be doing better than before when the tariff/51st-state dust settles.  The election was just bad luck in the timing.

 

Sure, that makes sense. Badmouthing the guy who economically attacked Canada and called for it to be the 51st state was a bad political strategy?

[Hanaguma]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

Well, if he loses it's kind of a victory for Poilievre since he did campaign on a platform of change...

Can't argue with your logic.  Hard to be opposition leader when you aren't in the Commons. 

[SunnyinBangrak]

1 hour ago, save the frogs said:

The Don weighs in ....

 

Not sure why the US wants more jihadis. I wouldn't touch post Trudeau's Canada with a bargepole. Open borders and mass importation of wrong'uns has consequences

[Hanaguma]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

Sure, that makes sense. Badmouthing the guy who economically attacked Canada and called for it to be the 51st state made for bad politics?

It really touched a nerve, but as time went on the fear was abating. The Conservatives were rising in the polls, but at the same time support for the far-left NDP was cratering. Looks like the NDP share of the vote is down by something like 70% over the last election. 

 

Smart people know that Trump was just BSing. But in all honesty I wanted him to shut up. It was borderline funny the first time as a way to dig at Trudeau. But like your old uncle who tells the same jokes at every family gathering, it just got irritating. 

[impulse]

2 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Sure, that makes sense. Badmouthing the guy who economically attacked Canada and called for it to be the 51st state was a bad political strategy?

 

A lot of people around the world understand Trump's plan and how his rhetoric is just that. Rhetoric.  Even some Canadians. 

 

Flip flopping is never a good political strategy.  Ask the Dems.

 

[CharlieH]

 

[JAG]

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

The Don weighs in ....

 

To which the people of Canada have, umh, shall we say "responded'!

[metisdead]

Posts using derogatory and toxic nicknames or intentional misspelling of people’s names will be removed. If you don’t want your post to be removed, spell people’s names correctly, this applies to both sides of the political debate.

[Hanaguma]

3 minutes ago, JAG said:

To which the people of Canada have, umh, shall we say "responded'!

What happened is the race polarized. Support drained from the minor parties to the major ones.  The Libs are up 1.3 million votes or so. The Conservatives up a million. But the minor parties are hurting.  Lots of 'strategic voting' helped the Liberals to win agains the Conservatives. NDP supporters largely held their noses and voted for Carney.