By: Anthony Iafrate
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will remain in office as his Liberal Party won a minority government in Monday’s federal election.
Carney took over as Canada’s leader in March when he replaced deeply unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who had announced his resignation after almost a decade in office. Despite the Liberal victory — which came following the party trailing in the polls by as many as 25 points before Trudeau’s exit — voters denied them a majority government as returns project the rival Conservatives to score seat gains in the double digits.
As of Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m., The New York Times had called 154 seats for the Liberals, who held 152 heading into the previous night. Meanwhile, the Conservatives had won at least 131 seats — the most it has held since Trudeau’s initial 2015 win — up from the 120 the party held as polls closed. The center-right party is also leading in an additional 12 seats, which would bring its grand total to 143.
These significant Conservative gains came as their leader, Pierre Poilievre, lost reelection in his own Ottawa district, or “riding,” to Liberal challenger Bruce Fanjoy.
“To my fellow Conservatives, we have much to celebrate tonight,” Poilievre said in his concession speech. “We’ve gained well over 20 seats. We got the highest share of the vote our party has received since 1988.”
“We did all of this in a very difficult environment,” he emphasized, pointing out that “Canadians have opted for a razor thin minority government, a virtual tie in the vote count.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, to which Carney had made his opposition a focal point of his campaign, loomed large during the lead-up to the vote, specifically with older voters. Conservatives meanwhile focused their messaging primarily on Canada’s cost of living crisis, a message which appeared to have resonated with younger voters.
“As a party, we have definitely expanded our support,” Poilievre said. “And every single day, the Conservative caucus and myself will be working hard in Ottawa to force the government to account on behalf of millions of Canadians who decided to vote for real change. I had the honour of criss-crossing this country to speak to thousands of people who shared their concerns, their suffering, their despair with me.”
Meanwhile, the prime minister appeared to stay on message regarding Trump in his victory speech.
“As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats,” Carney said. “President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us.”
The Liberal leader added that Canadians “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.”
Since Carney’s new government is a minority, he will have to rely on minor parties for support of his agenda. The Bloc Québécois, a regional party which only fields candidates in the French-speaking province of Quebec, won the third most seats in Parliament, with a tally in the low 20s, a loss of about ten seats. The left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) finished in fourth, suffering a double-digit seat loss and losing official party status. The NDP notably backed Trudeau’s last minority government from 2021 to 2024.
