The Daily Populous Thursday February 27th, 2025 day edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by Capital_Gate6718

Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls.

An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed the left-leaning Liberals have 38% public support and the official opposition right-of-center Conservatives have 36%. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, to Donald Trump.

The Conservative strategy had long been to attack the unpopular prime minister, Justin Trudeau, but he said last month he was resigning after more than nine years in power.

The Liberals, who will choose a new leader on 9 March, steadily picked up support after the US president threatened to impose tariffs on almost all imports from Canada and said he wanted to annex Canada as the 51st US state.

“The Conservatives are facing headwinds from rising anti-Trump sentiment and anticipation surrounding the Liberal party’s new leadership,” Ipsos said in a release.

The next election must be held by 20 October but could come much sooner than that. The new Liberal leader has the option of calling an election immediately.

A Leger poll released on Tuesday put the Conservatives on 38% public support with the Liberals on 35%, compared with 43% and 21% respectively in December. And an Ekos poll, also released on Tuesday, put the Liberals on 38% and the Conservatives on 37%.

The results of the three polls indicate that if an election were held now, the Liberals and Conservatives would both fall well short of a majority in the 343-seat House of Commons and could only take office with the support of smaller parties.

Such minority governments are less stable and rarely last more than two years. During the second of two Liberal leadership debates on Tuesday night, the major contenders called for tough countermeasures against the US and said the Conservatives’ Poilievre would not save Canada.

“Who’s the worst person to stand up to Donald Trump? It’s Pierre Poilievre. He worships the man. He uses his language. He’s not the right person for our country at this crucial time,” said the former central bank governor Mark Carney.

Poilievre’s office was not immediately available for comment.

The former finance minister Chrystia Freeland told the debate that “Trump is posing the gravest challenge our country has faced since the second world war”.

S_Belmont on February 26th, 2025 at 22:44 UTC »

I don't even want another liberal government, the conservatives just made themselves borderline unelectable by wallowing in American right wing social media for too long. A lot of the rank & file members don't even understand what country they're in, talking about 1st amendment rights and the orders they think Trump gives to them in Canada. The Freedom Convoy was full of it. It became a fishbowl where the premier of one of the wealthiest provinces felt comfortable going to Trump's inauguration and posting US/Canada flags. Like they're so far gone that's what gets them clout in those circles.

When it blew up in their faces they did a 180, but that was only two weeks ago. Nobody should trust them at this point, the years of expressing those sentiments are all still there under the surface.

Ditch-Worm on February 26th, 2025 at 22:10 UTC »

“Anti-Trump sentiment” is a weird way to say ‘annexation threats from oldest ally’

mrjane7 on February 26th, 2025 at 21:23 UTC »

I'd literally vote for a wet towel if it told me it hated Trump.