The resurrection of Canada’s Liberal Party was as close to miraculous as you can get in modern politics. Its savior: Prime Minister Mark Carney, a political rookie but also an experienced tactician and one of the world’s most highly regarded economists.
But in a farmer’s field on the eve of the election, Canada’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre continued to nurture a robust political movement that won the Conservative Party its largest share of the popular vote in decades.
Both leaders promised to vigorously stand up to the threat to annex Canada that came early, loudly and often from US President Donald Trump.
To meet the moment and the menace, Canadians rallied around the flag, expressing an uncommon patriotism. But they also coalesced along the country’s traditional left-right dividing lines, deepening fractures between east and west, young and old, male and female.
Many Canadians voiced a need for strong leadership in the face of the American threat, but they are almost equally divided on who is best to deliver on that.
“We have a guy down south talking smack about Canada, I think it’s important we have a strong leader to stand up to him, he needs to show us some respect,” one voter, Elaine Forbes, said as she walked to her Ottawa polling station Monday prepared to back Carney.
It was a similar sentiment that motivated many of Poilievre’s supporters.
“You need a strong leader and you need a lot more than what’s been going on,” said Nolan Travis just before he cast his ballot in Ottawa, adding, “someone who is going to actually mean what he says.”
The buzz word of “leadership” has left Canada’s three other national parties in the cold, all of them losing ground in the popular vote. The country’s next parliament will reflect more of a two-party system, united against Trump but divided about nearly everything else.
Both Carney and Poilievre extended a hand to each other on election night, promising to cooperate, especially when it comes to defending Canada against American expansionism.
“You know, humility underscores the importance of governing as a team in cabinet and in caucus and working constructively with all parties across Parliament, of working in partnership with the provinces and the territories and with Indigenous peoples,” said Carney during his election victory speech, adding that he will be guided by such humility as he governs Canada.
In his election night speech, Poilievre pivoted to conciliatory language Canadians have not heard from him in months.
“While we will do our constitutional duty of holding government to account and proposing better alternatives, we will always put Canada first as we stare down tariffs and other irresponsible threats from President Trump. Conservatives will work with the prime minister and all parties with the common goal of defending Canada’s interests and getting a new trade deal that puts these tariffs behind us while protecting our sovereignty and the Canadian people,” he said.
As reasonable as both leaders sounded in the aftermath of the vote, key party lieutenants were already sounding more combative.
Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, who was reelected Monday, seemed in a fighting mood as he touted an alternative vision for Canada. “I don’t know what tomorrow holds – my focus though is on all the young people, all the parents, the moms, the dads who came to us and trusted us to offer an alternative a brighter future. We’re going to see that too, we’re going to keep fighting and when the next federal election comes around, conservatives will earn the trust of more voters and we will bring home a victory nationally,” he said Monday night in an interview with CBC News.
Jivani has been a close friend of US Vice President JD Vance since their years at Yale University.
Sean Fraser, a key Carney ally and a once and likely future Liberal cabinet minister, shot back at Poilievre, accusing him of adopting a Trumpian style of politics.
But Fraser did concede that Canadians are looking for his government to get beyond the political divide.
“Canadians do not want us to continually talk about what’s wrong with the other party we may be competing against, they want us to put our ideas on the table and work together to get things done,” said Fraser in an interview with CBC News after his victory Monday.
A two-party system is not the traditional makeup of Canada’s parliament, and it will be tough to navigate for Canadian leaders, especially Carney.
“When we seek unity, unity grows,” proclaimed Carney on election night, but fostering that unity could prove an unprecedented challenge.