Canada’s Liberals celebrate a stunning win and the Conservative challenger loses his seat

TORONTO AP As Canada s Liberals celebrated balloting achievement in a stunning turn of fortune vote counting resumed Tuesday to determine whether Prime Minister Mark Carney s party gains an outright majority or necessities help in Parliament from a smaller party Carney s rival populist Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was in the lead until U S President Donald Trump took aim at Canada with a pact war and threats to annex it as the st state Poilievre not only lost his bid for prime minister Monday but was voted out of the Parliament seat that he held for years That capped a swift decline in fortunes for the firebrand Poilievre who a inadequate months ago appeared to be a shoo-in to become Canada s next prime minister and shepherd the Conservatives back into power for the first time in a decade Poilievre a career politician campaigned with Trump-like bravado taking a page from the America First president by adopting the slogan Canada First But his similarities to Trump may have ultimately cost him and his party The Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament s seats than the Conservatives It was not straightaway clear if they would win an outright majority at least seats or would need to rely on a smaller party to pass measure The vote-counting agency Elections Canada commented the counting of special ballots cast by voters who are away from their districts during the poll has resumed When the counting was paused early Tuesday the Liberals were leading or elected in seats four short of a majority Elections Canada estimated that uncounted votes could affect the development in about a dozen districts In a accomplishment speech Carney stressed unity in the face of Washington s threats He stated the mutually beneficial relationship Canada and the U S had shared since World War II was gone We are over the shock of the American betrayal but we should never forget the lessons he declared As I ve been warning for months America wants our land our information our water our country Carney added These are not idle threats President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us That will never ever happen But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally changed In a message issued Tuesday White House spokesperson Anna Kelly reported the Canadian balloting does not affect President Trump s plan to make Canada America s cherished st state A defeat for the Conservatives Poilievre 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 But Trump attacked Trudeau resigned and Carney a two-time central banker became the Liberal Party s leader and prime minister In a concession speech before the race call on his own seat Poilievre vowed to keep fighting for Canadians We are cognizant of the fact that we didn t get over the finish line yet Poilievre disclosed We know that change is needed but change is hard to come by It takes time It takes work And that s why we have to learn the lessons of tonight McGill University political science professor Daniel B land stated nothing prevents Poilievre from remaining the Conservative leader without a seat but if he decides to stay he would need to run in another district perhaps by asking a Conservative member of Parliament from a safe Conservative district to resign Still losing your seat when certain people within your own party think you re the main reason why it failed to win is a clear issue for Poilievre B land revealed Moreover not having the leader of the official opposition in the House of Commons when Parliament sits again would obviously be a matter for the Conservatives especially if we do end up with a minority Parliament Even as Canadians mourned a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street festival Trump was trolling them on voting process day asserting that he was on their ballot and erroneously claiming that the U S subsidizes Canada It makes no sense unless Canada is a State he wrote Trump s truculence has infuriated Canadians leading multiple to cancel U S vacations refuse to buy American goods and possibly even to vote early A record million Canadians cast ballots before electoral process day Reid Warren a Toronto resident declared he voted Liberal because Poilievre sounds like mini-Trump to me 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 particular turmoil that s for sure he announced Foreign plan hasn t dominated a Canadian electoral process this much since when free deal with the United States was the prevailing issue The Liberal way forward Carney and the Liberals have daunting challenges ahead If they fail to win a majority in Parliament the Liberals might need rely on a smaller party Trudeau s Liberals relied on the New Democrats to remain in power for years but the progressive party fared poorly on Monday and its leader Jagmeet Singh noted he was stepping down after eight years in charge It appears the Liberals will not attain a majority but the New Democrats will prop them up as before I do not expect any formal deal between the parties revealed Nelson Wiseman professor emeritus at the University of Toronto The Bloc Qu b cois which looked set to finish third is a separatist party from French-speaking Quebec that seeks independence Bloc Qu b cois leader Yves-Fran ois Blanchet commented he would be open to working with the executive for a year if it s a minority The last thing that the Quebec people and Canada people want is instability in the federal Parliament he announced In addition to the arrangement war with the U S and frosty relationship with Trump Canada is dealing with a cost-of-living emergency And more than of its exports go to the U S so Trump s tariffs threat and his desire to get North American automakers to move Canada s production south could severely damage the financial sector Carney has vowed that every dollar the administration collects from counter-tariffs on U S goods will go toward Canadian workers who are adversely affected He also revealed he plans to offer a middle-class tax cut return immigration to sustainable levels and increase funding to Canada s populace broadcaster Associated Press journalist Mike Householder in Mississauga Ontario contributed to this analysis Source