Canadians vote in an election dominated by Trump’s trade war and bluster

TORONTO AP Canadians voted Monday on whether to back their new prime minister Mark Carney and extend his Liberal Party s decade in power or hand control to the Conservatives and their populist leader Pierre Poilievre But the electoral contest was also a referendum on someone who isn t even Canadian Donald Trump The U S president trolled Canadians on balloting day by suggesting on social media that he was in fact on the ballot and repeating that Canada should become the st state incorrectly claiming the U S subsidizes Canada It makes no sense unless Canada is a State Trump wrote Poilievre who has been criticized for not taking a firmer stance against Trump responded with a post of his own President Trump stay out of our voting The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box he posted Canada will inevitably be proud sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the st state Until Trump won a second term and began threatening Canada s commercial sector and sovereignty the Liberals looked headed for defeat But Trump s truculence has infuriated various Canadians leading countless to cancel U S vacations refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early A record million Canadians cast ballots before voting process day Trump s attacks also put Poilievre and the opposition Conservative Party on the defensive and led to a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the poll narrative The Americans want to break us so they can own us Carney explained just now laying out what he saw as the referendum s stakes Those aren t just words That s what s at peril Vote day came as the country grappled with the fallout from a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street fair that led to the suspension of campaigning for several hours Police ruled out terrorism and stated the suspect is a local man with a history of mental soundness issues Trump became the main issue Poilievre and his wife walked hand-in-hand to vote in their suburban district near the nation s capital Ottawa Get out to vote for a change he implored voters Sisters Laiqa and Mahira Shoaib stated they did just that with Laiqa a -year-old strength care worker voting for the progressive New Democratic Party and Mahira a -year-old bank worker backing the Conservatives The sisters who immigrated from Pakistan a decade ago stated the commercial sector has worsened and job opportunities have dried up under Liberal rule After the sisters voted at a public center in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga Mahira Shoaib announced she thinks Poilievre is best equipped to improve Canada s finances He is business-minded and that s what we need right now she commented Poilievre had hoped to make the electoral process a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged But then Trump became the dominant issue and Poilievre s similarities to the bombastic president could cost him He appeals to the same sense of grievance Canadian historian Robert Bothwell stated of the Conservative leader It s like Trump standing there saying I am your retribution The Liberals ought to pay him Bothwell added referring to the American president Trump talking is not good for the Conservatives Foreign program hasn t dominated a Canadian polling this much since when ironically free business with the United States was the prevailing issue The winner will face a litany of challenges Canada has been dealing with a cost-of-living problem for selected time And more than of its exports go to the U S so Trump s threat to impose sweeping tariffs and his desire to get North American automakers to move Canada s production south could severely damage the Canadian economic activity Both Carney and Poilievre noted that if elected they would accelerate renegotiations of a free arrangement deal between Canada and the U S in a bid to end the uncertainty hurting both of their economies Carney has notable experience navigating economic crises after running Canada s central bank and later becoming the first non-U K citizen to run the Bank of England Trump dialed back his talk of Canada becoming the st state during the campaign until last week when he commented Canada would cease to exist as a country if the U S stopped buying its goods He also mentioned he s not just trolling Canada when he says it should become a state In response to the threats to Canadian sovereignty Carney pleaded with voters to deliver him a strong mandate to deal with Trump President Trump has chosen obsessive ideas and that is one Carney mentioned of his annexation threat It s not a joke It s his very strong desire to make this happen It s one of the reasons why this dilemma is so serious Reid Warren a Toronto resident explained he voted Liberal because Poilievre sounds like mini-Trump to me And he noted 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 several turmoil that s for sure he reported Associated Press reporter Mike Householder contributed to this overview Source