Ottawa:
Canadian Election 2025 LIVE: Canadians voted on Monday (local time) to decide whether to extend the Prime Minister Mark Carney-led Liberal Party’s decade in power or hand over the country’s control to Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party. The first polls closed in Newfoundland, and initial trends will start coming soon. There are still another two hours to go until voting ends in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, following which the exit polls and results will likely start coming in from around 8:00 PM, approximately 6:30 AM IST on April 29 (Tuesday).
This time, Canadians are not just electing their next Prime Minister, but the polls are also seen as a referendum of sorts on someone who isn’t even Canadian– US President Donald Trump. The Liberal Party looked set to lose easily to the Conservatives until Trump won a second term and began threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty, even suggesting the country should become the 51st state.
The American President’s truculence not only infuriated many Canadians but also put Poilievre and the Conservative Party on the back foot due to his similarities with Trump.
Forty-five-year-old Poilievre is a career politician who campaigned with Trump-like bravado. During campaigning, he tried to keep the focus on domestic concerns that made Trudeau deeply unpopular toward the end of his decade in power, especially soaring living costs.
However, final polls indicate a tight race, but Carney has emerged as a favourite. Carney, 60, has never held elected office and had a lucrative career as an investment banker before serving as the central bank governor in both Canada and Britain. He only replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister last month.
But, surveys have consistently shown voters view the ex-central banker as the best candidate to deal with Trump.
If the Liberals win today, it would mark one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history. Public broadcaster CBC’s poll aggregator on Sunday put the Liberals’ national support at 42.8 per cent, with the Conservatives at 38.8 per cent.
