Carney says Trump key issue in Canada's election, while Conservative
rival says country needs change
[April 17, 2025]
By ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday the key
question in Canada's election is who is best to deal with U.S. President
Donald Trump while his Conservative rival argued that Carney doesn't
represent change after a decade of Liberal Party rule.
Opposition Conservative Pierre Poilievre said during the French-language
leaders’ debate Canada needs change and Carney is just like his
predecessor Justin Trudeau.
“Mr. Poilievre is not Justin Trudeau. I’m not Justin Trudeau either. In
this election the question is who is going to face Mr. Trump," Carney
said.
Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have
infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism that has
bolstered Liberal Party poll numbers ahead of the April 28 vote.
Poilievre is imploring Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth term.
He 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 and immigration surged.
But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central
banker, became Liberal party leader and prime minister after a party
leadership race.
“One of the differences, there are many, but one of the differences
between the two of us is that I put much more emphasis on the economy,
on growing the economy,” Carney said when asked about Trudeau at a news
conference after the debate. “In fact in this circumstance that we are
in, given the scale of the crisis, I would say relentless focus on
growing the economy.”
During the debate Carney said he has only been prime minister for a
month.
“We need change. You do not embody change,” Poilievre said to Carney.
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From left to rigt, Liberal leader Mark Carney, Bloc Quebecois Leader
Yves-Francois Blanchet, New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh
and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pose for a photo before the
French-language federal leaders' debate, in Montreal, Wednesday,
April 16, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanche, whose party is losing support
to Carney's Liberals in Quebec, agreed, saying the Liberals are the
same party, the same ministers and the same lawmakers and a new
leader does not change that.
But public opinion has changed. In a mid-January poll by Nanos,
Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%. In the latest
Nanos poll released Wednesday, the Liberals led by 8 percentage
points. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points while the
latest poll had a 2.7-point margin.
“Carney, who played safe, did not make the kind of big mistakes that
could have altered the dynamic of the race in Quebec,” said Daniel
Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in
Montreal. “I don’t think the debate will have a major impact on the
race in Quebec, which remains dominated by the Liberals.”
The French debate was moved up by two hours to minimize a conflict
with a Montreal Canadiens hockey game. The NHL team faced off
against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. ET, and clinched a spot in
the Stanley Cup playoffs.
This isn’t the first time NHL hockey has elbowed its way onto the
campaign trail. During the 2011 election, former Bloc leader Gilles
Duceppe asked for a debate to be postponed due to a Canadiens hockey
game, and his request was granted.
The English language debate is Thursday evening.
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