Canada set for snap election with trade war rattling economy

Dayana Mustak, Bloomberg News on Mar 20, 2025

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to call a national election within days, seeking his own mandate from voters at a time when the country’s businesses have been shaken by a trade war with the U.S.

Carney, the former governor of two central banks, was sworn in as prime minister on March 14 after winning the leadership of the Liberal Party. He’s riding a wave of early support in public opinion polls, and the country is due to have an election this year.

Carney, 60, is likely to ask for Parliament to be dissolved this weekend, a person familiar with the matter said. He’s leaning toward setting April 28 as the voting date, the Globe and Mail reported, citing people it didn’t name.

The Liberals have been in power since 2015 and appeared set for certain defeat before Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in January. Some polls now give the party a small lead, while others have the Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre, in first place.

A recent survey by Leger Marketing shows that voters have a more favorable impression of Carney, who was governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013.

Carney has risen to power during one of the most hostile moments in Canada-U.S. relations in recent history. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to use “economic force” to try to turn Canada into a U.S. state and has already imposed steep tariffs on many Canadian goods, with Canada retaliating in kind with import taxes on about C$60 billion ($42 billion) of U.S. products so far.

The battle with its largest trading partner has sparked a sense of urgency in Canada about diversifying buyers for its exports. Both party leaders have pledged to green-light major projects to bring more natural resources to market, but Poilievre has pointed out the Liberals have failed to speed up sluggish permitting processes during their near-decade in power.

The Conservative leader on Thursday promised to create “shovel-ready zones,” or areas that are pre-permitted for construction, to allow companies to quickly build mines, liquefied natural gas terminals, pipelines or other major projects.

“You will see hard-working and talented Canadian workers going around, earning big paychecks,” Poilievre said in a statement. “The economy will boom and we will be less reliant on the Americans.”

The escalation of the trade war has shaken confidence in the private sector. Optimism among Canada’s small- and medium-sized firms fell to the lowest level in at least a quarter-century, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

The CFIB’s Business Barometer index fell to 25 this month, according to a flash poll of 1,065 firms taken between March 5 and March 7. That’s the lowest reading on record in data back to 2000.

In a recent interview on Fox News, Trump said he would rather work with the Liberal Party leader in Canada to resolve the trade war he instigated. Poilievre and the Conservatives have seized on those remarks, saying they show he’s the better choice to stand up to Trump.

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With assistance from Melissa Shin.