Canadians could be heading to the polls as early as April 28, as sources say Prime Minister Mark Carney will call a federal election this weekend.
Carney, who was only sworn in as prime minister last week, will reportedly speak with Governor General Mary Simon on Sunday at Rideau Hall in Ottawa to dissolve Parliament and call for a new election.
Earlier this month, Carney won the Liberal leadership race to replace outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after he announced his resignation in January.
The probable election call comes after the Liberal Party took a four-point lead over the Conservative Party in the Liaison Strategies’ poll on Wednesday, after years of Conservative dominance.
The Liberals are now expected to form a majority government again, following the 2021 election when the party fell 10 seats short of a majority government with 160 seats in the House of Commons.
Last week, Now Toronto spoke with Dr. Elizabeth McCallion, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, who said that Carney was likely to call an election soon to take advantage of the Liberal lead.
“Given the liberal party’s really strong performance, relatively strong performance in the polls right now, it’s understandable that Carney might want to capitalize on that and call an election when he has the support of Canadians, rather than waiting a few months when the support might [decline],” she said.
Read More
PARTY LEADERS
On March 9, Carney won the Liberal leadership and beat former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, former cabinet minister Karina Gould, and former Liberal MP Frank Baylis.
It is still unclear which riding Carney would run in during the new election, as he currently does not hold a seat at the House of Commons.
Carney’s main opposition is Pierre Poilievre, who took over as Conservative Leader in 2022.
With a campaign highly focused on criticizing Liberal policies, Poilievre has often been compared to the U.S. President Donald Trump for some of his controversial political takes, from opposing environmental initiatives like the carbon prices, promising to crack down on immigration, to appearing in the “Freedom Convoy” demonstrations in 2021.
Jagmeet Singh has been the NDP Leader since 2017 and focuses his campaign efforts in tackling living costs, housing and health care, as well as environmental policies to deal with climate change.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, who has led the party since 2019 defending Quebec interests, is also going to be in the dispute. The former Quebec Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks focuses his campaign on issues like language and cultural values, and gender equality.
