Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals were leading Monday in Canada’s early federal election results. With all of the polls now closed, early results show Carney’s Liberal Party leading with 45.3% of the vote as 40.3% of the votes were going to the Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre. Pool Photo by Neil H./EPA-EFE
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals were leading Monday in Canada’s early federal election results, as voters decide which party will guide the country through its current trade relations with the United States.
With all of the polls now closed, early results show Carney’s Liberal Party leading with 45.3% of the vote. Carney has been in charge since fellow Liberal Party member Justin Trudeau resigned from office in March.
Carney arrived at a time when United States President Donald Trump had recently changed the general relationship between the two countries with threats of annexation by the United States, which was followed by the institution of 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, cars and auto parts.
As Trump changed the relationship between the United States and Canada, polls in Canada also changed, as the Liberal Party shored up support in a patriotic wave.
As vote counts continued to be updated Monday evening, 40.3% of the votes were going to the Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre.
Poilievre ran on a platform focused on cuts to government funding, the lessening of environmental laws to allow for deeper use of natural resources and a reduction of bureaucracy.
The election has already seen around 7.3 million Canadians take part in early ballot submittals, up from the 5.8 million who voted early in 2021 federal election.
In-person voting began at 7 a.m. EDT in Canada’s easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador.
While final results in Canada’s federal election are expected Monday night, the process will be a bit slower than in the United States. Canada uses paper ballots, which are counted by hand in front of representatives for each candidate. Each polling station’s results are then reported to Elections Canada before they are released online.