Canada's Liberals benefit from Trump backlash to claim poll victory
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals retained power in the country's election on Monday, but fell short of the majority government he had wanted to help him negotiate tariffs with US President Donald Trump.
The Liberals were leading or elected in 167 electoral districts, known as seats, followed by the Conservatives with 145, with votes still being counted.
The Liberals had needed to win 172 of the House of Commons' 343 seats for a majority that would allow them to govern without support from a smaller party.
"Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over," Carney said in a victory speech in Ottawa. "The system of open global trade anchored by the United States, a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has helped deliver prosperity for our country for decades, is over."
"These are tragedies, but it's also our new reality."
Carney said the coming months would be challenging and require sacrifices.
Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, a polling firm, told Reuters the Liberal win hinged on three factors.
"It was the 'anybody-but-Conservative' factor, it was the Trump tariff factor, and then it was the Trudeau departure... which enabled a lot of left-of-center voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party," Kurl said, referring to the resignation of unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Carney had promised a tough approach with Washington over its import tariffs and said Canada would need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US. But the right-of-center Conservatives, who called for change after more than nine years of Liberal rule, showed unexpected strength.
Minority governments in Canada rarely last longer than 2-1/2 years.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre conceded defeat to Carney's Liberals and said his party would hold the government to account.
The result capped a notable comeback for the Liberals, who had been 20 percentage points behind in the polls in January before Trudeau announced he was quitting and Trump started threatening tariffs and annexation.
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Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Exclusive: US quietly sent hundreds of Hellfire missiles to Israel before Iran attack
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- Middle East Eye
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Gulf Today
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- Gulf Today
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The company said it has around a 2% share of the US market for tea beverages, ranking eighth largest, with Unilever's Pure Leaf leading the sector. But it has a long way to catch up with the 3.9 billion gallons of Coca-Cola's trademark Coke drinks sold in the US last year, at only 3.1 million gallons by comparison, according to research firm Beverage Marketing Corporation. "Kikkoman's soy sauce is probably in every American household now, but it took about 50 years for it to become a part of the culture," said Akihiro Murase, Ito En's public relations manager, referencing the Japanese food manufacturer as a template for success. "We are not there yet but we would like to make unsweetened green tea a part of the food culture," he said.
