On Sunday, Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, and his Conservative opponent kicked off their five-week election campaigns before the vote on April 28.
The governing Liberals had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Donald Trump declared economic war. But as Canadians have rallied against Trump's 25% tariffs on the nation's steel and aluminum and his threats of sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as all of America's trading partners — polls show the Liberals and their new leader could come out on top again.
"The biggest issue that Canada has are the tariffs that Donald Trump is putting on the nation," says Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College. "Unfortunately, it appears as though the polls show that people have more trust in the Liberal leader, Carney, than they do in the Conservative leader in dealing with Donald Trump and the tariffs."
Elon Musk has previously endorsed and praised Canada's Conservative leader, but in an interview that aired last week, Trump was asked about the changing polls.
"I think it's easier to deal, actually, with a Liberal," he said. "Maybe they're going to win, but I don't really care. It doesn't matter to me at all."
Brian Rushfeldt, a longtime conservative activist in Canada, thinks Trump's statement could benefit Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives.
"Poilievre said it's obvious that President Trump wants to deal with the Liberals because he knows they're weak and that he can get his way with them," he notes. "I think that's going to resonate in the minds of a bunch of Canadians."
Rushfeldt, who has said Carny is not "as psychotic as" former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau but is more dangerous because of his links to The World Economic Forum, hopes the same thing happens there that happened in the U.S., where people were saying Trump would never win, but he won by a landslide.
"That's possible here, too," he tells AFN.
Trump has repeatedly said that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state and acknowledges that he has upended Canadian politics, and the vote is expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with him.
