SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Rob Gillies
Toronto: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals fell short of winning an outright parliamentary majority and will have to seek help from a smaller party to push through his legislative agenda.
The vote-counting agency finished processing nearly all ballots on Tuesday, Canada time. The election could leave the Liberals just three seats shy of a majority. Recounts are expected in some districts.
The Trump thump? Canadian conservative leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat at the election.Credit: AP
Carney’s rival, populist Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, was in the lead until US President Donald Trump took aim at Canada with a trade war and threats to annex the country as the 51st state.
Poilievre not only lost his bid to be prime minister in Monday’s election, but was voted out of the seat that he had held for 20 years.
It capped a swift decline in fortunes for firebrand Poilievre, who a few months ago appeared to be a shoo-in for Canada’s next prime minister and to sweep the Conservatives back into power for the first time in a decade.
A career politician, Poilievre campaigned with Trump-like bravado, taking inspiration from the US president by adopting the slogan “Canada First”. But his similarities to Trump may have ultimately cost him and his party.
Carney seemed likely to find the extra votes necessary for his party to pass legislation, but it was not clear whether they would come from the progressive New Democratic Party – which backed the Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau – or from a separatist party from French-speaking Quebec.
The Liberals were projected to win 169 of Parliament’s 343 seats, while the Conservatives were on track for 144. The Bloc Quebecois party was expected to finish with 22 seats, the New Democrats with seven and the Greens with one.
Elections Canada said 68.5 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in the federal election – the highest turnout since 1993.
In a victory speech, Carney stressed unity in the face of Washington’s threats. He said the mutually beneficial relationship Canada and the US had shared since World War II was gone.
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” he said.
“As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country.
“These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never … ever happen. But we also must recognise the reality that our world has fundamentally changed.”
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the Canadian election “does not affect President Trump’s plan to make Canada America’s cherished 51st state”.
Carney spoke with Trump, and the two leaders “agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together – as independent, sovereign nations – for their mutual betterment”, Carney’s office said in a statement. The men “agreed to meet in person in the near future”.
Poilievre hoped to make the election a referendum on Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose.
But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney – a two-time central banker – became the Liberal Party’s leader and prime minister.
In a concession speech before the race was called in his own seat, Poilievre vowed to keep fighting for Canadians.
“We are cognisant of the fact that we didn’t get over the finish line yet,” Poilievre said. “We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. It takes time. It takes work. And that’s why we have to learn the lessons of tonight.”
McGill University political science professor Daniel Beland said Poilievre could remain the Conservative leader, but he would need to run in another district – perhaps by asking a Conservative MP from a safe seat to resign.
“Still, losing your seat when some people within your own party think you’re the main reason why it failed to win is a clear issue for Poilievre,” Béland said.
