The Canadian Liberal Party has pulled out a narrow victory over the Conservative Party in the federal election on April 28, 2025, achieving a minority government.
According to the BBC, the election would see the Liberal Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Mark Carney, win 169 seats in the House of Commons, achieving a minority government. Meanwhile, the Conservatives, led by former Minister of Democratic Institutions of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, only won 144 seats keeping their role as the leader of the opposition in the Canadian Parliament, a position they’ve held since 2015.
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Although he has no direct tie to results, NPR reports that the election was influenced by United States President Donald Trump. This could be due to Trump’s actions, including the harsh tariffs against Canada or his comments about annexing Canada, and fears that a conservative government would mean for Canada that led to a narrow Liberal victory in this election. Pollster Frank Graves telling Politico, “The biggest factor by far is President Trump and the shock and awe at announcements that we heard, not just about annexation and tariffs, which certainly got everybody’s attention, but also just the general flavor and the cavalcade of announcements…”
These comments from Trump left Poilievre in a very difficult spot, as many Canadians began to view the combative Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), who had promised a return to “common sense politics” no more than a Canadian Trump. Even as Poilievre tried to distance himself from Trump, he could not shake off Trump’s effects, with him even Poilievre losing his own seat in Carleton, Ontario.
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NPR shows that older polls had predicted a swift Conservative victory over the then incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had become very unpopular on account of the issues of home affordability and the cost of living in Canada becoming a concerning topic in the nation. Trudeau’s resignation on January 7 and the ascension of Mark Carney to the position of prime minister as well as the breakdown in US – Canadian relations would shatter any previous conceptions of a Conservative sweep in the election, with, Graves saying, “I have never seen a transformation of our voter landscape in Canada of that nature.”
Canada’s other parties didn’t fare much better, Bloc Quebecois, a Quebec nationalist party, led by a member of the House of Commons of Canada, Yves Francois Blanchet, is on 23 seats, while the Canadian Left wing New Democratic Party, led by Jagmeet Singh, is down to seven seats and the Canadian Green party, led by Elizabeth May, is down to one seat.
