AFP :
Canada’s newly-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country should “never forget the lessons” of the United States’s “betrayal,” in a stark rebuke of President Donald Trump, after his Liberal party won control of parliament.
“We will win this trade war,” Carney told cheering supporters in Ottawa, while warning of “challenging” days ahead brought on by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” Carney said.
The leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC), Mark Carney, succeeded in his gamble after a short 36-day campaign: to remain in office.
The election of a fourth consecutive Liberal government seemed impossible just four months ago, given the polls that had the Liberals losing significantly to the Conservative Party (PCC).
However, the resignation of former prime minister Justin Trudeau and the omnipresence of American President Donald Trump allowed for a reversal of fortunes.
At 8 am Paris time, estimates predicted that, out of a total of 343 seats, 165 would go to Liberal MPs in the Canadian House of Commons, compared to 147 for the
PCC, 23 for the Bloc Québécois (BQ, a Quebec sovereignty party) and seven for the New Democratic Party (NDP, left-wing). The gap narrowed considerably late in the evening, resulting in a narrow Liberal victory, achieved notably through gains made in Quebec.
“Who’s ready to stand up for Canada with me?” With the first words of his victory speech, Prime Minister Carney placed Donald Trump at the heart of his new mandate. Having digested “the shock of American betrayal,” he believed that the country must learn from this trade war to reduce Canadian dependence on its neighbor by betting on other relationships with “reliable partners in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.” Carney also gently mocked Trump’s beloved slogan, “drill, baby, drill” – which encourages accelerating oil extraction – by proposing his version, “build, baby, build,” as he aims to build 500,000 homes per year to address Canada’s pressing.
