Prime Minister Mark Carney holds a press conference following the First Ministers meeting at the National War Museum on Friday, March 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

By Canadian Press

CANADA'S CHOICE 2025

Mark Carney calls five-week federal election, with vote on April 28

Mar 23, 2025 | 12:15 PM

Canada’s 45th general election got underway Sunday, with the leaders vying to become Canada’s next prime minister each positioning themselves as best to strengthen Canada’s economy and stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney triggered the campaign midday by visiting Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and asking her to dissolve Parliament. Speaking outside Rideau Hall following that meeting, he said he is offering solutions instead of anger and division.

“It’s easy to be negative about everything when you’ve never built anything; when you’ve never had to make a payroll,” he said. “Negativity won’t win a trade war.”

Right out of the gate Carney promised a one-point cut to the middle class tax rate and said an election is necessary to have a strong response to American economic threats.

The Liberal leader, who has not yet served as an MP, will seek election in the Ottawa riding of Nepean.

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre launched his campaign an hour before Carney addressed media, saying he plans to restore the promise of Canada and tackle affordability issues that he blames on elites.

“Our nation is more divided than ever before, because the Liberal, radical, post-national, borderless and globalist ideology has weakened our nation,” Poilievre said in Gatineau, Que., overlooking Parliament Hill.

“Now, desperate for a fourth term, Liberals have replaced Justin Trudeau with his economic advisor and handpicked successor, Mark Carney.”

Poilievre said he will bring down the cost of living and fix the immigration system while having a strong military.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh launched his campaign from a downtown Ottawa hotel, reiterating his party’s success in convincing the Liberals to enact national dental care and pharmacare programs.

He said the other two parties aren’t the best to manage “Donald Trump’s illegal trade war” because they support the rich.

“The people who earn their living by showing up to work, who dream of owning a home, raising a family, and retiring with a modest pension — they’re being abandoned,” he said.

“When Donald Trump comes demanding concessions, who will say no to trading away Canadian jobs or the things we grow and build and ship?”

Recent polls have suggested the Liberals and Conservatives are in a neck-and-neck race and the comfortable polling lead the Conservatives enjoyed for more than a year has all but evaporated. The NDP, which a few months ago was tied with the Liberals in many surveys, has watched its support plummet.

Trump has threatened to economically coerce Canada into becoming a U.S. state, implementing some tariffs and promising others in response for a shifting set of policy changes ranging from fentanyl flows to dairy quotas.