Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada won a new term on Monday night, a remarkable turnaround for his Liberal Party, which surged in popularity as President Trump took an increasingly aggressive stance toward the country.
Early Tuesday morning and after an all-night count, Canada’s elections agency said it would stop tallying votes for a few hours and resume at 9:30 a.m. Eastern — leaving unanswered the question of whether the Liberals had managed to narrowly clinch a majority of seats in the House of Commons. A minority government would require support from other parties to pass legislation and would be weaker and less stable than a majority.
But what was clear was that Canadians had opted for Mr. Carney, an economist who was running in national elections for the first time in his life, with Mr. Trump and his impact on Canada’s economy on their mind.
The centerpiece of Mr. Carney’s acceptance speech early Tuesday morning was Canada’s response to Mr. Trump’s policies.
“As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water,” he said. “President Trump is trying to break us so he can own us. That will never happen.” He warned Canadians that the road ahead would be difficult and might require sacrifices.
Canada’s elections agency said it would stop tallying votes for a few hours early Tuesday, leaving unanswered the question of whether the Liberals had managed to clinch a majority in the House of Commons.Credit…Cole Burston for The New York Times
The Conservative Party had been handily leading in polls until March when Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods took effect and Mr. Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister and leader of the Liberals. For the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, the party’s stinging defeat was compounded by the fact that he lost his seat, which he had held continuously for 20 years, to the Liberal candidate.
When Mr. Poilievre conceded early Tuesday morning, he said that he would remain as party leader. The Conservative caucus can remove him from that post, as it did to the party’s two previous leaders after it failed to form a government.
The election has been remarkable in many ways, with candidates and many voters describing it as the most important vote in their lifetimes.
It was dominated by Mr. Trump and his relentless focus on Canada, America’s closest ally and trading partner. He imposed tariffs on Canadian goods, pushing the country toward a recession, and repeatedly threatened to annex it as the 51st state. Even as Canadians were heading to the polls on Monday morning, he repeated that desire, arguing on social media that it would bring economic and military benefits.
Mr. Carney, 60, a seasoned economist and policymaker who promoted himself as the anti-Trump candidate and centered his campaign on dealing with the United States, ultimately benefited from the American president’s actions.
Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, lost his seat as his party lost the election.Credit…Amber Bracken for The New York Times
Mr. Poilievre, 45, and the Conservatives had been dominating polls for years, building a platform against the Liberals and Mr. Trudeau around the argument that they had dragged Canada into prolonged economic malaise.
But they watched their double-digit lead rapidly evaporate after Mr. Trump’s aggressiveness toward Canada and Mr. Trudeau’s resignation.
Canadians heading to the polls were preoccupied both with the country’s relationship with its neighbor to the south and with the state of the economy at home. Affordability worries, primarily over housing, were top of mind, opinion surveys conducted before the election showed.
But Canada’s choice on Monday also came as a kind of referendum against Mr. Trump and the way he has been treating America’s allies and its trading partners.
It’s the second major international election since Mr. Trump came to power, after Germany, and Canada’s handling of the rupture in the relationship with the United States is being closely watched around the world.
Canada’s choice on Monday also came as a kind of referendum against President Trump and the way he has been treating America’s allies and its trading partners.Credit…Pat Kane for The New York Times
The election also highlighted that Mr. Trump’s brand of conservative politics can turn toxic for conservatives elsewhere if they are seen as being too aligned with his ideological and rhetorical style. Mr. Poilievre, who railed against “radical woke ideology,” pledged to defund Canada’s national broadcaster and said he would cut foreign aid, seemed to have lost centrist voters, pre-election polls suggested.
For Mr. Carney, Monday’s victory marked an astonishing moment in his rapid rise in Canada’s political establishment since entering the race to replace Mr. Trudeau in January.
A political novice but policy-making veteran, Mr. Carney conveyed a measured, serious tone and defiance toward Mr. Trump’s aggressive overtures, helping to sway voters who had been contemplating supporting the Conservatives, according to polls and some individual voters. And his politics as a pragmatist and a centrist seemed to better align with Canada’s mood after a decade of Mr. Trudeau’s progressive agenda.
There was ample evidence on Monday that Mr. Carney’s personality and background had boosted the Liberals. He is a Harvard- and Oxford-educated economist who served as governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 global financial crisis and the Bank of England during Brexit. He later went on to serve on corporate boards and became a leading voice on climate-conscious investment.
The road ahead for Mr. Carney and his new government will be hard. For starters, he will need to engage with Mr. Trump and his unpredictable attitude toward Canada and discuss fraught issues, including trade and security.
And he will need to show voters that his economic policy credentials can truly be put to use to improve Canada’s slow economic growth and persistently high unemployment.
In the early hours of Tuesday, amid celebrations, Mr. Carney said he was ready for the challenge. “We will fight back with everything we have to get the best deal for Canada,” he said. “We will build an independent future for our great country.”
