Mark Carney has declared victory in the Canadian election, beating Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in a remarkable electoral turnaround.
It remains too close to call whether the Liberal party has secured a majority in Parliament or whether he will have to form a coalition.
Speaking to supporters in Ottawa, Mr Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, said Trump was trying to “break” Canada but that he would not let that happen.
“President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us, that will never ever happen,” he told the crowd.
It represents a comeback for the Liberal party who had looked set for electoral wipeout until Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister, stepped down.
Defeated Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said “hard lessons” had been learnt.
Mark Carney has said Canada’s old relationship with the United States is “over”.
“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,” he told supporters after declaring victory in Ottawa.
Donald Trump was a central figure in the Canadian election amid threatens to make the country America’s 51st state.
Mr Carney, in his victory speech, called for unity and promised to govern with humility. And, mixing French and English, he hammered the theme that dominated the election, setting out how he would deal with President Donald Trump.
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal but we cannot forget its lessons,” he said. “We have to look out for ourselves, and above all, we have to take care of each other,’ he said. “When i sit down with President Trump it will be to discuss the future and security relationship between two sovereign nations.”
That line brought the biggest cheer of the night, before he took on a more sombre tone, warning that there would be tough times ahead.
“The point is that we can give ourselves far more than the Americans could ever take away,” he said. “But even given that, I want to be clear, the coming days and months will be challenging, and they will call for some sacrifices, but we will share those sacrifices by supporting our workers and our businesses.”
A victorious Mark Carney took the stage in Ottawa in front of supporters a little after 1.20am local time (6.20am GMT).
He congratulated Pierre Poilievre on a “hard-fought, fair campaign”.
But he was in the mood to celebrate what had seemed a very unlikely win just a few weeks ago.
“Who’s ready? Who is ready to stand up for Canada with me?” he asked to cheers. “And who is ready? Who is ready to build Canada strong?”
Mark Carney is set to address supporters shortly from Ottawa.
Mr Poilievre was upbeat even as he conceded defeat and congratulated “Prime Minister Carney”.
He signalled that he has no intention of stepping down despite falling short in an election he was a shoo-in to win at the start of the year.
“Some of you might be disappointed that change did not get over the finish line tonight,” he said.
“Change takes time. Most of all, it requires that we never give up.”
Pierre Poilievre is addressing supporters in Ottawa.
“Now my message to Canadians … the promise that was made to me and to all of you is that anybody from anywhere could achieve anything,” he said.
“Through hard work, you can get a great life, get a nice, affordable home on a safe street. My purpose in politics is and will continue to be to restore that commitment.”
Mr Poilievre is interrupted at times by chants of, “Bring it home.”
He tells his supporters they can take heart from increasing their share of the vote.
“We are cognisant of the fact that we didn’t quite get over the finish line. We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by,” he said.
“It takes time. It takes work, and that’s why we have to learn the lessons of tonight so that we can have an even better result the next time that Canadians decide the future.”
How foolish are Canadian voters? They have just kept a politically inexperienced prime minister and largely discredited Liberal minority government in power because of their frustration with a US president.
That, in a nutshell, is what happened in Monday’s election in the Great White North.
Mark Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, entered the Liberal Party leadership race soon after Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in January.
It seemed like a no-win situation. Trudeau had thoroughly destroyed his party and political brand with his mediocre, ineffective and delusional leadership. His Liberal government was also in tatters, down as much as 25 points to Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives as recently as February.
Carney was obviously more intelligent and capable than Trudeau, but he didn’t bring much to the table, either.
Poilievre was the superior choice for Prime Minister. What happened?
Read Michael Taube’s opinion piece here
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