Conservatives target Trump as Canada campaign begins

by Ben Simon

Canada's Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre argued Monday that he is the strongest candidate to take on US President Donald Trump, whose annexation and tariff threats have shaken the once promising chances of a Tory-led government.

The leading candidates ahead of Canada's April 28 election fanned out on the first full day of campaigning in a vote certain to be dominated by Trump.

Liberal leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau earlier this month, was in the eastern province of Newfoundland, saying Canadians needed to view the United States as "a friendship lost."

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Trump's return, while potentially devastating for Canada's economy, appears to have boosted the Liberals, with several polls showing them as a slight favorite, a stunning turnaround from early January when the Conservatives looked headed for a landslide.

Poilievre built significant support as a relentless critic of an unpopular Trudeau government, but Trump's return and Trudeau's departure have forced the Conservatives to pivot.

Flanked by his wife and two young children at a packaging plant outside Toronto, Poilievre fought back against perceptions that Carney was the better counter to Trump.

"There's a reason why Donald Trump wants the weak, out of touch Liberals in power. They have handed him control of our economy," Poilievre said, an apparent reference to Trump's recent comment that he would "rather deal with a liberal" in Canada.

"I know that people are scared, they feel threatened... and now they are facing these unjustified threats from President Trump who quite frankly needs to knock it off," Poilievre said.

He pledged tax cuts to boost the economy so Canada can "confront Donald Trump and the Americans from a position of strength."

Political analysts have argued Poilievre may need to re-center the campaign on non-Trump issues that made the Liberals vulnerable after a decade in power, like soaring housing costs.

But given Trump's primacy in Canadian politics, Poilievre has increasingly taken aim at the president.

For Conservative supporter Valerie Orr, 81, Trump's dominance is unhelpful.

"This threat from the south has diverted too much attention," she told AFP in a parking lot outside the Poilievre event.

"Who ever heard of a state the size of Canada... Come on, be real," she said, praising the Conservative leader for focusing on the challenges people face trying to "make it through the week."

- Friendship 'lost,' 'strained' -

Carney, who previously led the central banks in Canada and England, has tried to position himself as a departure from Trudeau and a seasoned economic crisis manager.

He spoke on Monday in Gander, a town that sheltered thousands of Americans whose trans-Atlantic flights were abruptly forced to land there after the September 11 attacks.

"Canadians did extraordinary things for Americans when they needed it. Now, we need to do extraordinary things for ourselves," he said.

"In this crisis caused by the US president and those who are enabling him, we lament a friendship lost, or at least a friendship strained," he added.

In a jab at Poilievre, who Liberals charge is ideologically aligned with Trump, Carney said the president is watching to see if the next prime minister will be someone "who's in sync with him, or is it someone who will stand up for Canadians."

Carney, Poilievre and other party leaders will face off in two debates -- one French, one English -- on April 16 and 17.

Trump has threatened, withdrawn and imposed a dizzying array of tariffs on Canadian goods, with more levies expected next week, triggering a trade war economists say could plunge Canada into a recession.

His tariffs and repeated threats to turn Canada into the 51st US state, combined with Trudeau's departure have upended Canadian politics.

On January 6, the day Trudeau announced his plans to resign, the Liberals held 20.1 percent support with the Conservatives at 44.2 percent, according to aggregated polling data from the public broadcaster CBC.

On Monday, the Liberals were at 37.8 percent and the Tories stood at 37.2.

The data shows the Carney-led Liberals have eaten into support for the left-wing New Democrats, whom progressives may not trust to take on Trump.