‘We’re kind of already here’: Political expert weighs in on push to shake up future Canadian elections following U.S. midterms

Following a historic U.S. midterm election, Canadians across the country are wondering if the same momentum that flipped many states and appointed many “firsts” in senators can make its way across the border for future elections here at home.

Tuesday’s election in the U.S. saw major changes for the country, with many red states flipping to blue, ending with a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

This included the state of Texas, which made the switch after they were represented by the Republicans since 1993.

Additionally, many senators made history, including the first Black female governor, the first Muslim in the Senate, the first openly gay man elected to the Senate, and the first Native American governor, among others.

It was an election that had eyes all over it, not only from U.S. residents, but across the globe, and especially from Canada.

These election results may also lead to positive steps towards dismantling the ongoing tariff war between the two countries.

Canadians wonder if they can do the same

Because of the turnout and passion behind Tuesday’s midterm elections, many Canadians took to social media to ask one question: “Could that be us?”

Many tweets ranged from telling people to vote in the next election to pointing out Ontario’s low voter turnout in past elections.

Now, many are calling to other Canadians to put the same energy behind the U.S. midterms into the next Canadian election.

One Canadian X user said they want to see similar results in the country, with the Conservative Party.

“The next blue wave we need is right here in Canada!” they wrote. “Vote blue no matter who!”

Another shared the same messaging, but instead stated they wanted Conservative Premier Doug Ford out of office.

“If this many Canadians who live in Ontario have this much energy for the midterm elections in America, then I’m expecting Doug Ford to be GONE,” they wrote.

But can this kind of momentum actually influence other countries to hit their own polls?

University of Toronto professor of Economics and trade policy expert Joseph Steinberg told Now Toronto that he feels the country is already headed in that direction.

“The winds of change… we’re kind of already here in Ontario as well,” he explained. “Doug Ford is already pretty unpopular. I’m not sure that this is going to change the trajectory of likelihood of Doug Ford remaining in office and winning another election.”

Steinberg added that past global events have definitely influenced Canadian society as a whole.

“We have seen an example of major national and international events, in particular our relationship with the United States, having dramatic consequences for our elections,” he said. “Every stopped clock is right once in a while, and Donald Trump was, I think, largely correct when he said that he was responsible for getting Prime Minister [Mark] Carney elected.”

Steinberg added that Carney got involved due to Trump’s tariffs.

“If we were not hit by all these tariffs, it’s very unlikely that Prime Minister Carney would even have been interested in getting involved,” he said. “The Liberals almost surely would have lost power.”

Steinberg also said Canada’s previous national election was greatly affected by what’s going on south of the border. 

He advised that Canadians should tread lightly on believing the midterms mean historic choices for Canada’s future elections as well.

“I would be a little bit more cautious looking forward about what this [means] for Canadian politics,” Steinberg said.

“…[Ford] probably [is] likely to lose regardless of what happened with the midterms.”