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.
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney speaks at the Liberal Party election night headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario (Reuters)
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.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 06:43
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.
Canada’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and his wife Anaida wave to the crowd at the Conservative election party at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa, Ontario on 28 April 2025 (AFP via Getty Images)
“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.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 06:31
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.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 06:08
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.
Dorothy Goubault, a supporter of Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney, reacts to polling numbers at the Liberal Party election night headquarters in Ottawa (Reuters)
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.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 05:53
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.
Liberal Party president Sachit Mehra hugs a supporter of Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney at the Liberal Party election night (Reuters)
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.”
Namita Singh29 April 2025 05:50
Even with Canadians grappling with the fallout from a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street festival, Donald Trump was trolling them on election day, suggesting on social media that he was on their ballot and repeating that Canada should become the 51st state.
He also erroneously claimed that the US subsidises Canada, writing, “It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”
“Good luck to the Great people of Canada,” he said.
US president Donald Trump delivers remarks at an event welcoming the 2025 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles on the South Lawn of the White House on 28 April 2025 in Washington (Getty Images)
“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago.”
Mr Trump’s truculence has infuriated many Canadians, leading many to cancel US vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early.
A record 7.3 million Canadians cast ballots before election day.
“The Americans want to break us so they can own us,” Mark Carney said in the run-up to election day. “Those aren’t just words. That’s what’s at risk.”
Namita Singh29 April 2025 05:28
The Conservative Party’s leader Pierre Poilievre hoped to make the election a referendum on former prime minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose.
But Mr Trump attacked, Mr Trudeau resigned and Mark Carney, a two-time central banker, became the Liberal Party’s leader and prime minister.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, speaks during the ‘Whistle Stop for Change’ event on 27 April 2025 (EPA)
Mr Poilievre implored voters to “Get out to vote — for a change”. After running a Trump-lite campaign for weeks, though, his similarities to the bombastic American leader might have cost him.
Reid Warren, a Toronto resident, said he voted Liberal because Poilievre “sounds like mini-Trump to me”.
And he said Trump’s tariffs are a worry.
“Canadians coming together from, you know, all the shade being thrown from the States is great, but it’s definitely created some turmoil, that’s for sure,” he said.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 05:00
Former justice minister David Lametti hailed prime minister Mark Carney for the Liberal Party’s win in the Canadian federal elections.
The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state.
A supporter of Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney holds a sign at the Liberal Party election night headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 28 April 2025 (Reuters)
Trump’s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.
“We were dead and buried in December. Now we are going to form a government,” Mr Lametti, a former Liberal Justice Minister, told broadcaster CTV.
“We have turned this around thanks to Mark,” he said.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 04:38
Canadians aren’t directly electing their prime minister. Voters in each of Canada’s 343 federal electoral districts are only electing their local representative to the House of Commons.
The leader of whichever party wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons will form a new government and serve as prime minister.
Supporters for Canada’s prime minister and Liberal Party of Canada leader Mark Carney gather at a watch election party in Ottawa, Canada on 28 April 2025 (AFP via Getty Images)
If no party wins a majority, a party — usually the one with the most seats — can form a minority government but must rely on support from some opposition members.
In rare cases, two or more parties might reach a formal agreement to form a coalition government together.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 04:15
Sitting prime minister Mark Carney has retained his seat in Ottawa. This makes him the first prime minister to hold a seat in Ottawa since the 1880s.
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney and his wife Diana Fox Carney watch the coverage of the election results at a hotel in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 28 April 2025 (Reuters)
The first non-Brit to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694 and the former head of Canada’s central bank, Mr Carney entered the race to be Canada’s next prime minister in January following Justin Trudeau’s resignation.
His Liberal Party has been projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservatives. But it wasn’t clear yet if the Liberals will win an outright majority, which would allow them to pass legislation without needing help.
Namita Singh29 April 2025 04:12
