Faced with Trump, Canada selects parliament

Donald Trump has again emerged as a factor in Canada’s election campaign days before the vote, which, according to Prime Minister, will determine how Ottawa can best oppose the US President.

Carney launched the race last month, calling for a strong mandate to deal with Trump’s tariffs and his desire to turn Canada into the 51st state. The liberals have had a solid lead, but the polls showed that the advantage gradually decreased in recent days, as Trump was silent on Canada, and the voters’ focus seemed to shift back to the fears about the high cost of living.

On Wednesday, however, Trump said the US did not need cars manufactured in Canada and said it could increase the rates on vehicles imported from Canada. « President Trump has repeated his attacks on Canada. He said he did not want Canada to play any role in the North American automotive industry, » Carney said at Port Moody, British Colombia.

« So I will be just as clear: this is Canada – we decide what will happen here. Yesterday it was another proof that old relations with the United States are over, » he said.

Carney promises to spend tens of billions of dollars to help reduce the country’s dependence on the United States, which take 75% of the entire Canadian exports.

It is too early to say how the vote will affect the incident with at least 11 casualties on Sunday when a driver went through the crowd during a Vancouver festival. Authorities have ruled out to be a terrorist attack.

By the end of last week, the liberals were still in the lead before the election, but the difference with opposition conservatives declined, showed a three -day survey conducted on Thursday.

Liberals have 42.9% support, followed by Pierre Poliev conservatives with 39.3% and the new Democratic Party with 7.2%, according to a CTV News-Globe and Mail-Nanos poll.

The difference of 3.6 points between the two leading parties on Wednesday is compared to 5.6 points of the liberals in front of the Conservatives on the same poll a day earlier.

A similar result on the day of the election would lead to the fourth consecutive term of the liberals, but Carney could only win a minority from seats, which would leave him dependent on smaller parties to rule.

Reuters

Paul Thomas, Honorary Professor of Political Science at the University of Manitoba, said that the voters’ focus might shift back to high prices, crime and housing crisis, which were the central elements of the conservative campaign.

« We cannot afford a fourth liberal mandate with increasing costs and crime, » Poliev told reporters in Khalifax, Nova Scotia, on Thursday. He promised to eliminate the obligation to sell electric vehicles (liberals have introduced a requirement of 20% of all new passenger vehicles sold in Canada to have zero emissions by 2026, with the aim increased each year and should be 60% by 2030 and 100 to 2035 – ed.).

Reuters

Liberal support is usually distributed more effectively throughout Canada, leading to more parliamentary places. Conservatives tend to earn a big difference in rural areas with fewer places.

Carney remains the preferred choice for prime minister, but Poliev is reducing that difference, Nanos said.

The survey was conducted among 1307 Canadians from April 21 to 23 and is considered an accurate plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

ABacus Data poll on Wednesday gave the liberals a 40% support among the decisions of how to vote voters and the conservatives – 37%. According to Abacus, the proportion of support for liberals is unchanged from last week, while for the conservatives it is down with one point.

The study was conducted among 2,000 voters with voters from 18 to 21 April, and the permissible error was 2.3 percentage points.