Canada Liberals Fall Short of Majority 04/30 06:14

   

   TORONTO (AP) -- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney 's Liberals fell short 
of winning an outright majority in Parliament on Tuesday, a day after the party 
scored a stunning comeback victory in a vote widely seen as a rebuke of U.S. 
President Donald Trump.

   The vote-counting agency Elections Canada finished processing nearly all 
ballots in an election that could leave the Liberals just three seats shy of a 
majority, which means they will have to seek help from another, smaller party 
to pass legislation.

   The Liberal party seemed likely to find the extra votes necessary, but it 
was not clear whether they would come from the progressive party, which backed 
the Liberals under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, or from a separatist 
party from French-speaking Quebec.

   Carney's rival, populist Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, was in the 
lead until Trump took aim at Canada with a trade war and threats to annex the 
country as the 51st state. Poilievre not only lost his bid for prime minister 
Monday but was voted out of the Parliament seat that he held for 20 years.

   That capped a swift decline in fortunes for the firebrand Poilievre, who a 
few months ago appeared to be a shoo-in to become Canada's next prime minister 
and shepherd the Conservatives back into power for the first time in a decade.

   Poilievre, a career politician, campaigned with Trump-like bravado, taking a 
page from the "America First" president by adopting the slogan "Canada First." 
But his similarities to Trump may have ultimately cost him and his party.

   The Liberals were projected to win 169 seats of Parliament's 343 seats while 
the Conservatives were projected to win 144. The separatist Bloc Qubcois 
party was expected to finish with 22 seats, the progressive New Democrats with 
seven and the Greens with one. Recounts were expected in some districts.

   Elections Canada said 68.5% of eligible voters cast ballots in the federal 
election -- the highest turnout since 1993.

   In a victory speech, Carney stressed unity in the face of Washington's 
threats. He said the mutually beneficial relationship Canada and the U.S. had 
shared since World War II was gone.

   "We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget 
the lessons," he said.

   "As I've been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our 
water, our country," Carney added. "These are not idle threats. President Trump 
is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never ... ever happen. 
But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally 
changed."

   In a statement issued Tuesday, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the 
Canadian election "does not affect President Trump's plan to make Canada 
America's cherished 51st state."

   Carney spoke with Trump, and the two leaders "agreed on the importance of 
Canada and the United States working together -- as independent, sovereign 
nations -- for their mutual betterment," Carney's office said in a statement. 
The men "agreed to meet in person in the near future."

   A defeat for the Conservatives

   Poilievre hoped to make the election a referendum on Trudeau, whose 
popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing 
prices rose.

   But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, 
became the Liberal Party's leader and prime minister.

   In a concession speech before the race call on his own seat, Poilievre vowed 
to keep fighting for Canadians.

   "We are cognizant of the fact that we didn't get over the finish line yet," 
Poilievre said. "We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. 
It takes time. It takes work. And that's why we have to learn the lessons of 
tonight."

   McGill University political science professor Daniel Bland said nothing 
prevents Poilievre from remaining the Conservative leader without a seat but, 
if he decides to stay, he would need to run in another district -- perhaps by 
asking a Conservative member of Parliament from a safe Conservative district to 
resign.

   "Still, losing your seat when some people within your own party think you're 
the main reason why it failed to win is a clear issue for Poilievre," Bland 
said.

   "Moreover, not having the leader of the official opposition in the House of 
Commons when Parliament sits again would obviously be a problem for the 
Conservatives."

   Even as Canadians mourned a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street 
festival, Trump was trolling them on election day, asserting that he was on 
their ballot and erroneously claiming that the U.S. subsidizes Canada. "It 
makes no sense unless Canada is a State!" he wrote.

   Trump's truculence has infuriated Canadians, leading many to cancel U.S. 
vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even to vote early. A 
record 7.3 million Canadians cast ballots before election day.

   Reid Warren, a Toronto resident, said he voted Liberal because Poilievre 
"sounds like mini-Trump to me." He said Trump's tariffs are a worry.

   "Canadians coming together from, you know, all the shade being thrown from 
the States is great, but it's definitely created some turmoil, that's for 
sure," he said.

   Foreign policy hasn't dominated a Canadian election this much since 1988, 
when free trade with the United States was the prevailing issue.

   The Liberal way forward

   Carney and the Liberals have daunting challenges ahead.

   By failing to win a majority in Parliament, the Liberals will need to rely 
on a smaller party. Trudeau's Liberals relied on the New Democrats to remain in 
power for years, but the party fared poorly on Monday, and its leader, Jagmeet 
Singh, said he was stepping down after eight years in charge.

   The Bloc Qubcois, which looked set to finish third, is a separatist party 
from French-speaking Quebec that seeks independence. Bloc Qubcois leader 
Yves-Franois Blanchet said he would be open to working with the government for 
a year if it's a minority.

   "The last thing that the Quebec people and Canada people want is instability 
in the federal Parliament," he said.

   In addition to the trade war with the U.S. and a frosty relationship with 
Trump, Canada is dealing with a cost-of-living crisis. And more than 75% of its 
exports go to the U.S., so Trump's tariffs threat and his desire to get North 
American automakers to move Canada's production south could severely damage the 
economy.

   Carney has vowed that every dollar the government collects from 
counter-tariffs on U.S. goods will go toward Canadian workers who are adversely 
affected. He also said he plans to offer a middle-class tax cut, return 
immigration to sustainable levels and increase funding to Canada's public 
broadcaster.