Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to ask the country’s governor general to dissolve parliament and call for federal elections on Sunday, according to two government sources.
If that happens, Canadians will likely head to the polls on April 28, both sources told CNN. Unlike the United States, Canada’s elections aren’t fixed to a specific date every four years. The country’s parliamentary system allows for the governor general, on the advice of the prime minister, to schedule elections within a fixed time period.
Carney assumed his role as Liberal leader and prime minister after his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, announced his resignation in January amid a polling slump for the Liberal Party and an internal revolt in his cabinet. Recent polls had shown the Liberals on track for a heavy defeat to the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre.
However, the party’s fortunes in the polls have since improved amid a trade war with the United States.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed Canada for illegal immigration into the US and the flow of fentanyl over the border, threatened to turn Canada into a 51st state, and imposed steep tariffs on Canadian imports.
In his first remarks after being elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party in a landslide on March 9, Carney referenced the tensions with the US, saying his government would “create new trading relationships with reliable trading partners.”
Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, has previously not held an elected position but will now navigate the Liberals through the federal elections. During his decades-long career in finance, Carney steered governments through major global crises and periods of upheaval.
Since the 25% US tariffs on Canada were announced last month, Carney has been an outspoken proponent of retaliatory tariffs.
Carney has also rejected Trump’s repeated suggestion for Canada to become the 51st US state – stating that “America is not Canada.”
