The new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, is expected to announce the SNAP elections on Sunday, seeking a stronger mandate, his country which is fighting on a trade war and threats of annexation of the United States of Donald Trump.
The former central banker was chosen by the centrist liberal party to replace Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister, but he has never faced the wider Canadian electorate.
This will change on April 28, if, as expected, Carney announces that he is advancing the parliamentary elections for several months from October.
Government sources have told AFP that he would announce the decision at 12:30 p.m. local time (1630 GMT) in a speech to the Canada Nation 41 million people.
In power for a decade, the liberal government has slipped into deep unpopularity, but Carney hopes to set up a wave of Canadian patriotism to a new majority – thanks to the threats of Trump.
Trump agitated his northern neighbor by repeatedly rejecting his sovereignty and borders as artificial, and asking him to join the United States as a 51st state.
The disturbing remarks were accompanied by the Trump trade war, imposing prices for imports from Canada which could destroy its economy.
“During this period of crisis, the government needs a strong and clear mandate,” said Carney to supporters Thursday in a speech in the western city of Edmonton.
– Favorites of the survey –
Domestic problems such as the cost of living and immigration generally dominate the Canadian elections, but this year, a key subject is at the top of the list: who can better manage Trump.
The president’s open hostility towards his neighbor in the North – an ally of NATO and historically one of the partners closest to his country – has upset the Canadian political landscape.
Trudeau, who had been in power since 2015, was deeply unpopular when he announced that he resigned, the conservatives of Pierre Hairy considered as elections of the elections just a few weeks ago.
But the polls have shrunk spectacularly in favor of Carney since he took over the Liberals, and now analysts call this Trump race too close to call.
“Many consider that it is an unprecedented existential election,” said Felix Mathieu, political scientist at the University of Winnipeg.
“It is impossible at this stage to make predictions, but it will be a closely viewed election with an electoral participation that should increase.”
Hairyvre, 45, is a career politician, elected for the first time when he was only 25 years old. A veteran activist of difficult training, he was sometimes labeled as a libertarian and a populist.
Carney, 60, has spent his career outside of electoral policy. He spent more than a decade to Goldman Sachs and continued to lead the Central Bank of Canada, then the Bank of England.
The small opposition parties could suffer if Canadians seek to give a great mandate to one of the two big ones, to strengthen his hand against Trump.
And as for the American leader, he claims not to worry about it, while advancing with plans to further strengthen the prices against Canada and other major business partners on April 2.
“I don’t care who is up there,” said Trump this week.
“But there is just a little time, before getting involved and completely changing the election, which does not worry me (…) that the conservative led 35 points.”
Bur-tib / dc /
