Canadian voters return Liberals to power under new leader Mark Carney

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – Canadians voted Monday to give the incumbent Liberals another four years and place their trust that Prime Minister Mark Carney can handle the turmoil of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his fixation on annexing Canada.

Carney used his financial background as governor of the Bank of Canada and then the Bank of England to message Canadians that he had the economic tools to steer the country through an unpredictable financial world of tariff wars and a new trade deal with Trump.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre campaigned on change after 10 years of his contention of sluggish Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but it was not enough to gain victory.

Canadians rejected Poilievre’s message, which had to be a bitter defeat for him, because he had been miles ahead of the Liberals for months in poll after poll.

But then fortunes changed after the deeply unpopular Trudeau resigned and political neophyte Carney took over after a Liberal leadership convention. The Liberals rocketed to the front of public opinion polls, passed the Conservatives, and were four percentage points ahead on the last day of polling, April 27.

The election turned into a two-party race with the New Democratic Party under leader Jagmeet Singh never a contender.