On March 14, Justin Trudeau resigned as the prime minister of Canada. A key member of the Liberal Party, Trudeau was prime minister for nearly ten years. In recent years, however, he became increasingly unpopular due to the economic downturn. He was soon replaced by his successor, Mark Carney.
Before Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Conservative Party was projected to beat the Liberal Party by as much as 26% of the vote. Their representative was Pierre Poilievre, who, similarly to Trump, ran on a nativist stance, wanting Canadian voters to support Canadians first and push away allies. He was also a staunch supporter of Israel despite growing concerns of their human rights violations.
After Trump’s comments about annexing Canada, the Conservative Party’s support plummeted. Canadians saw Poilievre as softer on MAGA due to his previous support of them and his inadequate comments regarding Canadian sovereignty.
“It’s really no surprise that Carney ended up winning,” said sophomore Ethan Huffman. “When our president is threatening to take over their country and blaming them for fentanyl, they aren’t going to logically vote for the person that politically aligns with him more.”
The tariffs placed by Trump only damaged Poilievre’s campaign and uplifted Carney’s. Mark Carney had a history of expertise with economics and could present sound reasoning behind why America’s tariffs were bad for everybody. What went from a landslide victory for the Conservative Party, shifted to an upset for the Liberal Party despite being incredibly unpopular just a few short months ago.
For the cherry on top, on Canadian election day, American president Donald Trump told Canadian voters to become the 51st state. This pushed Canadian Liberals to win the parliament, now holding the majority and the prime minister’s seat.
“It’s outrageous that we’re treating them this way,” commented senior Nikhil Namshamgari. “I mean, they’ve always had our backs and have helped us out. They backed us up in World War Two, they sent firefighters over to help after 9/11, they’ve consistently sent planes to help put out the California wildfires, and they supply New England with most of their energy.”
Many believe this new “America First” standpoint people are taking will result in other countries withdrawing some of the aid they give to the US. Due to the American federal government not pitching in, state governments are often left to clean up messes with their inadequate funding due to poor financial governance.
For example, during Hurricane Katrina, countries like Mexico sent over medical teams to try and save as many people as they could. Even the smallest countries like Singapore and Cuba offered assistance. This radical policy will likely isolate America and leave it alone should anything unfortunate happen.
“We’ve relied on help from other countries since our conception as a nation, and it’s a shame to see centuries of practice be thrown out the window over statistically irrelevant amounts of money,” senior Grant Jaques said.
The future for Canada looks bright with an economically intelligent prime minister and a nation of fired up individuals who won’t back down from a challenge.
