OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country would “never” yield to the United States as he declared victory in federal elections early Tuesday, following a campaign overshadowed by relentless provocations and steep trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
The Liberal Party leader issued a stunning rebuke to Trump as he sent a message of unity to a divided nation, promising to “represent everyone who calls Canada home.”
“As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us,” Carney said. “That will never ever happen.”
Carney reiterated statements he made on the campaign trail about the vastly changed nature of Canada’s relationship with the US.
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves. And above all we have to take care of each other,” he said.
Voters have returned Canada’s Liberal Party to power for a fourth consecutive term but it remains to be seen whether Carney has won a majority or will need coalition partners to govern.
A party needs 172 seats to form a majority. CNN affiliates CTV is projecting a minority government while fellow affiliate CBC says it is too early to tell whether they can clinch a majority.
Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre conceded defeat early Tuesday, saying Carney had won enough seats to form a “razor thin minority government.”
Former central banker Carney, 60, has led a wave of anti-Trump sentiment since winning his party’s leadership contest in a landslide after former prime minister Justin Trudeau stepped down last month. He has rallied the public against the US president’s threats to annex the country as “the 51st state” and made the defense of Canada a central part of his platform.
Poilievre had been the favorite to win when Trudeau announced his resignation in January in the wake of dire polls, a serious cost of living crisis and an internal revolt in his cabinet.
But Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods and threats to its sovereignty dramatically transformed the race into something of a referendum against the US president.
Poilievre said his Conservatives will work with Carney and other parties in “defending Canada’s interests” and “protecting our sovereignty.”
“We will always put Canada first as we stare down tariffs and other irresponsible threats from President Trump,” he said.
Carney had never held political office before becoming prime minister. His decades in finance saw him steering governments through major global crises and periods of upheaval, including shepherding Canada’s economy through the 2008 financial crisis. As governor of the Bank of England, he helped the United Kingdom navigate Brexit – which he said mirrors what could happen to the US in the face of tariffs.
