Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party secured another term in Canada’s federal election on Monday, yet failed to clinch the parliamentary majority he had sought to strengthen Ottawa’s hand in forthcoming trade negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump.
With ballots still being counted, the Liberals were leading or elected in 167 ridings, ahead of the Conservatives with 145. The outcome leaves Carney short of the 170-seat threshold required for a majority in the 338-seat House of Commons.
In a measured victory speech in Ottawa, Carney said Canada’s long-standing trade relationship with the United States had fundamentally shifted. “Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over,” he said. “The system of open global trade anchored by the United States… is over. These are tragedies, but it’s also our new reality.”
He warned of difficult months ahead, noting that sacrifices would be necessary to navigate the evolving global order.
Analysts pointed to a mix of political shifts behind the Liberal win. “It was the ‘anybody-but-Conservative’ factor, it was the Trump tariff factor, and then it was the Trudeau departure… which enabled a lot of left-of-centre voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party,” said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.
Carney, a former Bank of England governor, faces the complex task of steering Canada through heightened U.S. protectionism, while maintaining support within a divided Parliament.