Canadians head to the polls amid new Trump annexation bid
Votes were being counted Monday in aCanadianelectionthat will choose a leader to confront Donald Trump's trade war and annexation threats, which the US president renewed in an election day message.
The Liberal Party, led by new Prime MinisterMark Carney, was trailing Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives until Trump's attacks on Canada sparked a wave of patriotism and a sudden reversal in poll forecasts.
Trump inserted himself into Canadian politics again on election day with a social media post saying Canada would face "ZEROTARIFFS" if it "becomes the cherished 51st state."
Poilievre, criticized during the campaign for his at-times muted anger towards Trump, hit back firmly.
"President Trump, stay out of our election," he posted on X. "Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state."
Carney also weighed in, saying on X: "This is Canada and we decide what happens here."
The 60-year-old has never held elected office and only replacedJustin Trudeauas prime minister last month.
A hockey player in his youth, Carney had a lucrative career as an investment banker before serving as the central bank governor in both Canada andBritain.
"Today, we leave everything on this ice," he said on social media before voting near his Ottawa home.
Carney anchored his campaign on an anti-Trump message and argued that his global financial experience has prepared him to guide Canada through a trade war.
The United States, he repeatedly said, was "trying to break us, so they can own us."
Read moreCanadian PM says era of close ties with US is 'over' after Trump's auto tariffs
Poilievre, a 45-year-old career politician, tried to keep the focus on domestic concerns that made Trudeau deeply unpopular toward the end of his decade in power.
The Tory leader argued Carney would continue "the lost Liberal decade" and that only the Conservatives will act against soaring costs, housing shortages and other non-Trump issues that Canadians rank as priorities.
"It's simple: No vote, no change," he said on social media Monday, urging people to get to the polls. 'Settle down'
Final polls indicate a tight race but put Carney as the favorite.
With warm spring weather, Canadians lined up outside schools, community centers and other venues in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto to vote.
Montreal resident Hamza Fahri, who planned to vote after work, described the election as "unique."
"I wanted to vote for change in Canada. I wanted the Liberals to go, but in the end, I'll vote for Carney because he is a strong, serious man and that's what the country needs to face Trump," the 28-year-old engineer told AFP.
In Canada's largest city Toronto, Conservative supporter Chad McCann said the Liberals "hadn't really done much for us" over their decade in power.
"I think for a strong change, there is no better time than today," the 37-year-old told AFP.
For first-time voter Hilary Recker, getting to the polls was a priority.
"I'm just excited to vote," the 19-year-old Toronto resident said.
"Hopefully it doesn't end up like the (United) States and I don't get disappointed." Historic turnaround?
A vast country that spans six time zones, Canada will see its final polling stations in western regions close at 7:00 pm local time (0200 GMT), with results expected later in the evening.
If the Liberals win, it would mark one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history.
On January 6, the day Trudeau announced he would resign, the Conservatives led the Liberals by more than 20 points in most polls.
But Carney replacing Trudeau, combined with nationwide unease about Trump, transformed the race.
Public broadcaster CBC's poll aggregator's final update late Sunday put the Liberals' national support at 42.8 percent, with the Conservatives at 39.2 percent.
The performance of two smaller parties -- the left-wing New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois -- could be decisive as strong showings by both parties in past votes have curbed Liberal seat tallies.
Nearly 29 million of Canada's 41 million people are eligible to vote in the massive G7 country. A record 7.3 million people cast advanced ballots.
Canadians will elect 343 members of parliament, meaning 172 seats are needed for a majority. The Liberals won a majority in 2015 but have governed with a minority since 2019.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vancouver Sun
3 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
Majority of Canadians see progress a decade after Truth and Reconciliation report: poll
Most Canadians believe the country is making good progress on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, a new poll from Leger suggests. 'The extent to which people feel progress on reconciliation is being made or not has an important bearing on how they feel about the country,' said Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies, which commissioned the poll. The survey of 1,580 respondents was conducted between June 20 and 22. A margin of error cannot be associated with the survey because online polls are not considered to be truly random samples. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Forty-seven of the respondents self-identified as Indigenous. Jedwab said that small number and the lack of regional breakdowns of the numbers means the poll should be interpreted with caution. But the poll still shows where Canadians are 10 years after the final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was released, he said. 'There's several attempts to measure progress on reconciliation by virtue of the extent to which we, collectively, have met the conditions of the various calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation (Commission's) report,' Jedwab said. 'But we're not really taking, up to now, the pulse of Canadians in terms of whether or not they feel progress is being made. 'It's sort of a proxy for helping us understand how Canadians feel about their relationships.' Fifty-five per cent of poll respondents said they believe Canada is making good progress on reconciliation, but their answers vary widely between age groups — 40 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 said Canada was making progress, while 67 per cent of respondents 65 and older said the same. Jedwab said he was surprised to see such a large number of respondents reporting progress, given the many issues in the Crown-Indigenous relationship still unresolved. 'The survey suggests there's something to build on with respect to the relationship, with respect to reconciliation and with respect to how people feel about the country,' he said. The survey also asked whether Canadians trust other Canadians — the vast majority of respondents said they do. But respondents aged 18 to 24 reported being the most trusting of others, at 77 per cent, while those aged 35 to 44 were the least trusting at 52 per cent. Roughly six in ten non-Indigenous respondents said they trusted Indigenous people. Reported trust in Indigenous people is highest in Nova Scotia (71 per cent) and Ontario (64.3 per cent) and lowest in Saskatchewan (38.3 per cent), P.E.I. (43.8 per cent) and Manitoba (44.8 per cent). The survey also suggests respondents who said they are proud of Canada's history are more likely to report Canada is making good progress on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, at 68 per cent. Of those who reported they're not proud of Canada's history, just 39.3 per cent said they believe Canada is making good progress. Pride in Canada's history seems to be strongly correlated with the age of respondents. Just 36 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 reported feeling proud of that history, while 78 per cent of those 65 and older said the same. Francophone youth reported being more proud of Canada's history (59 per cent) than anglophones (35 per cent) — a finding Jedwab said he was surprised by, given the persistence of the province's separatist movement. Jedwab said while the poll found most Indigenous respondents reported feeling pride in Canadian history, it can't be taken at face value because the sample size was so small. 'There's a need to actually pursue further research in this area to get a better idea of how Indigenous Peoples feel,' he said. 'We need to be more attentive to that diversity in terms of drawing conclusions about the views of Indigenous Peoples … We do need to better understand what the nature of the relationship is right now, how people feel about whether progress is being achieved or not and how we go forward together.' The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Winnipeg Free Press
3 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Official fired during Trump's first term appointed president of embattled US Institute of Peace
A senior State Department official who was fired as a speechwriter during President Donald Trump 's first term and has a history of incendiary statements has been appointed to lead the embattled U.S. Institute of Peace. The move to install Darren Beattie as the institute's new acting president is seen as the latest step in the administration's efforts to dismantle the embattled organization, which was founded as an independent, non-profit think tank. It is funded by Congress to promote peace and prevent and end conflicts across the globe. The battle is currently being played out in court. Beattie, who currently serves as the under secretary for public diplomacy at the State Department and will continue on in that role, was fired during Trump's first term after CNN reported that he had spoken at a 2016 conference attended by white nationalists. He defended the speech he delivered as containing nothing objectionable. A former academic who taught at Duke University, Beattie also founded a right-wing website that shared conspiracies about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and has a long history of posting inflammatory statements on social media. 'Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work,' he wrote on October 2024. 'Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.' A State Department official confirmed Beattie's appointment by the USIP board of directors, which currently includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. '(W)e look forward to seeing him advance President Trump's America First agenda in this new role,' they said. The USPI has been embroiled in turmoil since Trump moved to dismantle it shortly after taking office as part of his broader effort to shrink the size of the federal government and eliminate independent agencies. Trump issued an executive order in February that targeted the organization and three other agencies for closure. The first attempt by the Department of Government Efficiency, formerly under the command of tech billionaire Elon Musk, to take over its headquarters led to a dramatic standoff. Members of Musk's group returned days later with the FBI and Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police to help them gain entry. The administration fired most of the institute's board, followed by the mass firing of nearly all of its 300 employees in what they called 'the Friday night massacre.' The institute and many of its board members sued the Trump administration in March, seeking to prevent their removal and to prevent DOGE from taking over the institute's operations. DOGE transferred administrative oversight of the organization's headquarters and assets to the General Services Administration that weekend. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell overturned those actions in May, concluding that Trump was outside his authority in firing the board and its acting president and that, therefore, all subsequent actions were also moot. Her ruling allowed the institute to regain control of its headquarters in a rare victory for the agencies and organizations that have been caught up in the Trump administration's downsizing. The employees were rehired, although many did not return to work because of the complexity of restarting operations. They received termination orders — for the second time, however, — after an appeals court stayed Howell's order. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the U.S. Institute of Peace's request for a hearing of the full court to lift the stay of a three-judge panel in June. That stay led to the organization turning its headquarters back over to the Trump Administration. In a statement, George Foote, former counsel for the institute, said Beattie's appointment 'flies in the face of the values at the core of USIP's work and America's commitment to working respectfully with international partners' and also called it 'illegal under Judge Howell's May 19 decision.' 'We are committed to defending that decision against the government's appeal. We are confident that we will succeed on the merits of our case, and we look forward to USIP resuming its essential work in Washington, D.C. and in conflict zones around the world,' he said.
Edmonton Journal
3 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
Majority of Canadians see progress a decade after Truth and Reconciliation report: poll
Article content Roughly six in ten non-Indigenous respondents said they trusted Indigenous people. Reported trust in Indigenous people is highest in Nova Scotia (71 per cent) and Ontario (64.3 per cent) and lowest in Saskatchewan (38.3 per cent), P.E.I. (43.8 per cent) and Manitoba (44.8 per cent). Article content The survey also suggests respondents who said they are proud of Canada's history are more likely to report Canada is making good progress on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, at 68 per cent. Of those who reported they're not proud of Canada's history, just 39.3 per cent said they believe Canada is making good progress. Article content Pride in Canada's history seems to be strongly correlated with the age of respondents. Just 36 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 reported feeling proud of that history, while 78 per cent of those 65 and older said the same. Article content Article content Francophone youth reported being more proud of Canada's history (59 per cent) than anglophones (35 per cent) — a finding Jedwab said he was surprised by, given the persistence of the province's separatist movement. Article content Jedwab said while the poll found most Indigenous respondents reported feeling pride in Canadian history, it can't be taken at face value because the sample size was so small. Article content 'There's a need to actually pursue further research in this area to get a better idea of how Indigenous Peoples feel,' he said. Article content 'We need to be more attentive to that diversity in terms of drawing conclusions about the views of Indigenous Peoples … We do need to better understand what the nature of the relationship is right now, how people feel about whether progress is being achieved or not and how we go forward together.' Article content The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
