Photo credit: Politico
All Canadians want to know right now is who has the best shot of handling threats from Washington.
Politico reports that US President Donald Trump has defined the terms of Canada’s federal election, and the next test will be how the Candidates hoping to be Canada’s next prime minister respond to the president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Trump is expected to introduce 25 percent tariffs on automobiles on Wednesday. Of course, reciprocal tariffs are also likely to follow.
The threat to Canada makes the 2025 election the most consequential, single-issue, foreign-facing Canadian ballot since the 1988 campaign over the country’s decision to sign a free trade deal with the United States.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has already overcome a massive hurdle: he received a peaceful first contact with Trump without being abused or ridiculed. Meanwhile, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been bedevilled by lingering associations between his right-wing base and MAGA loyalists since Trump’s return to the White House.
While Carney and Trump had their first phone call last Friday, the new leader has been warned against a visit to the White House to avoid a devastating photo-op like what the Ukrainian president endured in February.
Canada’s next prime minister will become Trump’s political foil at a time when Canada’s economic future and its status as a sovereign country are at stake. Canadians realize that, too; they have become defiant flag-waving nationalists, who are boycotting American goods and canceling travel to the US at record levels.
Carney said on Monday that, “”These are not ordinary times. We are facing the biggest crisis of our lifetime.
“As I made clear to the president in our call last week, I will reject all attempts to weaken Canada, to wear us down, to break us so that America can own us.”
When Trump’s auto sector tariff resurfaced last week, Carney paused his campaign and returned to Ottawa to convene meetings with his Cabinet and Canada’s provincial premiers.
When Trump’s tariffs land, he will again leave the campaign to respond to Washington as Canada’s prime minister.
Poilievre talks about a “lost Liberal decade.” He argues that although Carney is a new leader, he’s far from a “change” candidate.
Poilievre’s Conservatives held a double-digit lead in the polls earlier this year – until Trudeau stepped down and the Liberals elected Carney their leader.
The candidates woke up on Monday to the latest example of the new shifting political landscape, encapsulated by one leading pollster showing the Liberals leading the Conservatives by a 43.6-to-36.1 percent margin.
Carney made it clear he wasn’t interested in talking to Trump unless the president showed respect for Canadian sovereignty, after months of referring to Trudeau as “governor” and Canada as the 51st state.
