Canada’s Liberals win minority government; Carney says old relationship with US ‘is over’

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party maintained power in the election held on Monday, but did not secure the majority government he had aimed for to assist in negotiating tariffs with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Liberals were ahead or elected in 167 electoral districts, referred to as seats, while the Conservatives had 145, with votes continuing to be tallied. The Liberals needed to secure 172 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons to have a majority that enabled them to govern independently from a smaller party.

“Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over,” Carney said in a victory speech in Ottawa. “The system of open global trade anchored by the United States, a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has helped deliver prosperity for our country for decades, is over.”

“These are tragedies, but it’s also our new reality.”

Carney said the coming months would be challenging and require sacrifices.

“It was the ‘anybody-but-Conservative’ factor, it was the Trump tariff factor, and then it was the Trudeau departure … which enabled a lot of left-of-center voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party,” Kurl said, referring to the resignation of unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Carney had vowed to adopt a firm stance against Washington regarding its import tariffs and indicated that Canada would have to invest billions to decrease its dependence on the U.S. However, the center-right Conservatives, who demanded change after over nine years of Liberal governance, displayed surprising resilience.

In Canada, minority governments seldom endure for more than 2-1/2 years. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre acknowledged his loss to Carney’s Liberals and stated that his party would hold the administration accountable.

The outcome marked a significant resurgence for the Liberals, who were trailing by 20 percentage points in the polls in January prior to Trudeau’s announcement of his resignation and Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation.