How Canada responds to Trump and the new government’s challenges

US President Donald Trump’s threats have shaken Canadian politics.

Just recently, polls predicted Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberal Party would come second or even third in the snap parliamentary elections, fighting merely to be the main opposition. Yet the party ended up winning the 28 April vote, though it fell short of a parliamentary majority.

Still, the new premiership of Mark Carney is unlikely to be easy. While relations with the US will be a top issue for the new government, the election results also show that opposing Trump alone isn’t enough to unify Canada.

Read more about the election results and the challenges facing Canada’s new government in the article by Oleh Pavliuk, a European Pravda journalist – Victory thanks to Trump: how the US president’s threats changed Canadian politics.

One of the most striking trends in this election was growing polarisation.

The new parliament has essentially become a two-party chamber, with Liberals and Conservatives together claiming about 85% of the vote.

Just months ago, Carney’s party trailed the Conservatives by over 20 points in polls. Now, according to Canada’s electoral commission, it has secured nearly 44% – a turnaround largely attributed to Trump’s aggressive rhetoric toward Canada and a shake-up in Liberal leadership.

This apparently happened for two reasons: Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric toward Canada and the party’s leadership overhaul.

However, it wasn’t without a fly in the ointment.

Even though the Liberals performed poorly in the resource-rich provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, where voters often feel ignored by Ottawa. This could pose a serious challenge to the new government, especially after a recent poll suggested Liberal victory could increase support for secession in these provinces.

While the Liberals rightfully celebrated their triumph after Monday’s election, the mood was quite different in the camp of their main rivals.

Purely in terms of numbers, the Conservative Party under Pierre Poilievre actually performed fairly well. In the 2021 election, they won 39.6% of the vote. This time, they secured just over 41%.

Due to the Liberals’ success, the Conservatives will hold only 144 seats in the new parliament, making them the largest opposition parliamentary group in Canada’s history, but nothing more.

The biggest collapse on 28 April, however, appears to have been suffered by the New Democratic Party. It lost two-thirds of its support, receiving just 6% of the vote compared to nearly 18% last time. As a result, the party will now have only seven seats instead of 25.

This outcome could pose a problem for the new government.

Even though the Liberal Party is only three seats short of a majority, securing those votes will be far more difficult than in the previous parliament.

There are two main scenarios: either the Liberals gain the support of a few defectors from the ideologically similar New Democratic Party, or they form a minority government and negotiate support from other parties on a vote-by-vote basis.

Undoubtedly, US-Canada relations will dominate Canadian politics in the coming months. The opposition has stated it is willing to work with the government to counter hostile actions from the US.

But this is one of the few areas where the Liberals and Conservatives truly see eye to eye. Domestic challenges may end up playing just as important a role as foreign ones.