(NewsNation) — Canadians will be heading to the polls to decide whether Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party stays in power, or if Conservatives will take the reins.
Monday’s election has been upended by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st state of the U.S. Trump’s comments have made for shaky relations between the two nations in recent months.
Trump took to the social media platform Truth Social Monday morning, wishing Canadians “good luck,” and once again making a case for annexing the country.
Canada’s Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre was seen as a shoo-in to become the next Prime Minister and bring back power to his party for the first time in nearly a decade. According to Reuters, the Conservative Party held a 20-point lead in polls just a few months ago.
Poilievre has campaigned with similar messages to Trump, adopting the slogan “Canada First,” similar to the “America First” one Trump used throughout his campaign and presidency.
However, the repeated threats from Trump have led to upset Canadians pivoting towards the Liberal Party’s Mark Carney and bolstered the party’s poll numbers. Carney was sworn in after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped down in March.
Carney has previously said that the U.S. and Canada’s relationship for the last 40 years has changed because of Trump’s tariffs and “threats to our sovereignty,” and asked voters to deliver a strong mandate to deal with Trump.