Key points
- Liberal Party was tanking in the polls just months ago
- A party needs to win 172 seats to form a majority government
- Carney anchored his campaign on an anti-Trump message
ISLAMABAD: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party is projected to win the Canadian election and form the next government, public broadcaster CBC projects.
It is not yet clear whether the party will win a majority.
It represents a remarkable turnaround for a party that was languishing in the polls just three months ago, before Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as leader and US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs and upended relations, according to BBC.
The polls are now closed.
For 37 days, in every corner of this country, our team worked to build a stronger Canada.
Thank you to everyone who put so much into this campaign. pic.twitter.com/1Xj0R1B094
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 29, 2025
Carney, who had never held elected office and only replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister last month, anchored his campaign on an anti-Trump message.
He previously served as central bank governor in both Britain and Canada and persuaded voters his global financial experience has prepared him to guide Canada through a trade war.
Overseas trading ties
He promised to expand overseas trading relations to curb Canada’s reliance on the United States.
Carney’s descriptions of the Trump threat have been stark.
“Donald Trump wants to break us so America can own us,” he said during the campaign.
“They want our resources, they want our water, they want our land, they want our country. They can’t have it.”
Trudeau’s departure
But the departure of former prime minister Justin Trudeau was also crucial to the Liberal win, which capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history.
On January 6, the day Trudeau announced he would resign, the Conservatives led the Liberals by more than 20 points in most polls, as voter anger over soaring coasts mounted after Trudeau’s decade in power.
But Carney replacing Trudeau, combined with nationwide unease about Trump, transformed the race.
This is Canada — and we decide what happens here. pic.twitter.com/1baJGn7pwv
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 28, 2025
Carney, 60, distanced himself from Trudeau throughout the campaign.
He said the former prime minister did not focus enough on growing Canada’s economy and scrapped a controversial Trudeau tax on carbon emissions that left many voters seething.
Nearly 29 million of Canada’s 41 million people were eligible to vote in the massive G7 country that spans six time zones. A record 7.3 million people cast advanced ballots.
Results were still pending on the shape of Canada’s 343 members of parliament, with 172 seats needed for a majority. The Liberals won a majority in 2015 but have governed with a minority since 2019.
