Liberals Surge Past Conservatives Days Before Canada Votes For New PM

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has ensured that his party - the Liberal Party of Canada - has come from behind and taken the lead just a week ahead of the parliamentary election in Canada, opinion polls suggest.

This is a significant achievement for Prime Minister Carney as his Liberal Party was miles behind the opposition Conservative Party just over a month ago, when he took over from Justin Trudeau, who was much to blame for the Liberal Party's misery over the last year.

Justin Trudeau, who was in power for more than nine years, was facing a massive anti-incumbency and backlash from the opposition and Canadian citizens alike over inflation, high immigration levels and a housing crisis.

LIBERALS OVERTAKE CONSERVATIVES, SAY POLLS

But under Mark Carney, the Liberals have come a long way. A rolling three-day Nanos poll released on Monday put the Liberals at 43.7 per cent public support compared to the Conservatives at 36.3 per cent. Jagmeet Singh's left-leaning New Democrats, who compete with the Liberals for the center-left vote, trailed at a distant 10.7 per cent.

If this is how the numbers stand on voting day, the Liberal Party of Canada will get a clear majority in the 343-member Canadian Parliament.

MARK CARNEY SHIFTS GEARS FOR THE LIBERALS

Mark Carney, 60, who was a former banker in Canada's central bank, has had no prior political experience. But he has described himself as "someone who knows how to negotiate and how to manage a crisis."

Mr Carney, who has taken some strong measures against US President Donald Trump's punitive tariffs and threats to takeover his country and make it the 51st state of the United States, appealed again to fellow Canadians on Monday, asking them to come out in large numbers and vote for him.

He has been demanding a decisive mandate - a majority government - for Canada to ensure the next government can withstand pressure from President Trump and the US government, who have made intentions clear about its foreign policy objectives vis-a-vis annexing Canada.

Canada needs to drastically reduce its dependence on America and completely restructure its economy, Mr Carney has said. "We need a government that has a strong mandate, a clear mandate. We need a government that has a plan that meets the moment," Mr Carney said during a campaign event on Monday.

The Liberal platform, which promises additional spending of around C$130 billion (Canadian Dollar) over the next four years, predicts that the 2025-26 deficit will be C$62.3 billion, far higher than the C$42.2 billion forecast in December.

CANADA ELECTION: EARLY VOTING HAS BEGUN

Elections Canada, which is the official election body of the country, has said that it has already recorded the votes of more than 2 million citizens who have cast their ballots on the first day of advance voting on Friday.

Canada has a total of 28 million registered voters.

The average voter turnout in Canada's parliamentary elections from the 1950s to the 1990s ranged between 70 per cent and 80 per cent - a high count. But since the turn of the century, the voter turnout has steadily declined. In the most recent elections in 2021, it had dropped to 62.3 per cent.

The Nanos poll, which surveyed 1,289 people, was carried out on April 17, 19, and 20. It is considered accurate to within 2.7 percentage points or 19 times out of 20.
 

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