Canada election 2025 dwell: Mark Carney vows ‘Trump will never break us’ after historic election win
Prime minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won Canada’s federal election, which was dominated by Donald Trump’s trade war and came in the aftermath of a deadly car-ramming attack in Vancouver.
The Liberals are projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, though they look set to fall short of an outright majority.
In a victory speech in Ottawa, Carney declared that “President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never — that will never, ever happen.”
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” he said, referring to the American president’s threats to Canada’s economy and its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state of the US.
Mr Poilievre, a populist firebrand who campaigned with Trump-like bravado, congratulated Mr Carney, saying the Conservatives will “do our job to hold the government to account”.
In pictures: Mark Carney wins election
Pierre Poilievre concedes defeat
In a speech conceding defeat and with his own seat in the House of Commons still in doubt, Pierre Poilievre vowed to keep fighting for Canadians and their right to an affordable home on a safe street.
“We are cognizant of the fact that we didn’t get over the finish line yet,” Mr Poilievre told his supporters in Ottawa.
“We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. It takes time. It takes work. And that’s why we have to learn the lessons of tonight — so that we can have an even better result the next time Canadians decide the future of the country.”
Video: Carney makes dig at Trump in Canada election victory speech
Never forget the lessons of American betrayal, says Mark Carney
In a victory speech before supporters in Ottawa, Mark Carney stressed the importance of Canadian unity in the face of the threats coming from Washington.
He also reiterated a belief he shared while campaigning: that the mutually beneficial system Canada and the US had shared since World War 2 had ended.
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” he said.”As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country,” Mr Carney said.
“These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never — that will never, ever happen. But we also must recognise the reality that our world has fundamentally changed.”
Poilievre trails in Carleton
The Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who has conceded defeat in the election to prime minister Mark Carney, is also currently trailing in his own seat in Ottawa’s Carleton.
The seat has yet to be called, with votes still being counted. Poilievre was first elected from Carleton in 2004.
Mark Carney delivers victory speech
Mark Carney is now delivering his victory speech after winning the Canada elections.
The Liberal leader says he looks forward to working constructively with all parties across parliament.
He also says he will sit down with Donald Trump to discuss future economic and security ties between the two as separate, sovereign nations.
After polls closed, Carney’s Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservatives, though it wasn’t immediately clear if they would win an outright majority – at least 172 – or would need to rely on one of the smaller parties to form a government and pass legislation.
Poilievre congratulates Carney on election win
The Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has conceded defeat and congratulated Mark Carney on his party’s win in the election.
The Conservatives will “do our job to hold the government to account,” he said.
“Change is needed but change is hard to come by. It takes time. It takes work,” he said, adding that the party will learn lessons for the next election.
The factors responsible for Liberal win
The Liberal win in Canada hinged on three factors, argues Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute polling firm.
“It was the ‘anybody-but-Conservative’ factor, it was the Trump tariff factor, and then it was the Trudeau departure… which enabled a lot of left-of-centre voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party,” Ms Kurl told Reuters.
Carney had promised a tough approach with Washington over its import tariffs and said Canada would need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US.
The right-of-centre Conservatives, who campaigned on a call for change after more than nine years of Liberal rule, initially did not push back hard against Trump’s claims to want to make Canada the 51st state of the US.
Carney’s Liberals will form minority government, CTV says
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s Liberals retained power in the country’s election on Monday, but CTV News predicted they would fall short of the majority government.
The Liberals need to win 172 of the House of Commons’ 343 electoral districts, known as seats, for a majority that would allow them to govern without support from a smaller party.
The Liberals were leading or elected in 161 districts, followed by the Conservatives with 150, with votes still being counted.
The westernmost province of British Columbia, where polls closed last, could decide whether the Liberals fall short of a majority government.
How the US tensions helped turn tide for Liberals
Tensions with the US have caused supporters of two smaller parties, the left-leaning New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, to shift to the Liberals.
The last party to win four consecutive elections in Canada was the Liberals, in 2004.
The result was a huge defeat for the Conservative Party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre, who focused his campaign on domestic issues and the need to fix a country that he said the Liberals had “broken.”
Source: independent.co.uk
