Mark Slapinski, journalist and publisher of the Canadian blog Toronto 99, detailed how Canada’s relationship with the U.S. would look like moving forward under potential new leadership as reports indicate that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney may call a national snap election in the coming days.
On Thursday, BBC reported that Carney “is likely” to call a national election for April 28 as soon as Sunday, giving candidates approximately five weeks to campaign.
Slapinski said current polls in Canada show that it is a “toss up” at this point between conservatives and liberals favored to win the election.
“It depends on the polls. It depends on the day…It’s a real toss up right now.,” Slapinski said on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Noting how he hopes Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Official Opposition and the leader of the Conservative Party, wins, Slapinski said he believes Poilievre would work to bridge Canada’s relationship with President Donald Trump on multiple fronts, including border security and investments.
“If it’s a minority, then he’s limited in the power that he has. If it’s a majority, then what you likely would see is that he’s going to try to bridge the relationship with Trump, try to open the door to investment and work on border security, arctic security, all of the things that Trump is asking for,” Slapinski explained.
“Whether or not they’ll be able to get along is another story, but I think he’s going to give it his best shot,” Slapinski added.
In the case that Carney, a liberal, wins the election, Slapinski said he foresees relations with Canada and the U.S. will remain strained.
“The thing about Mark Carney is with his base, a lot of the liberals really don’t like Trump, so I think he’s going to take a much stronger position against Trump. He’s probably going to try to reason with him a bit, but at the same time, also take a very firm stance against what he does and what he says. I think the liberals will be more combative,” Slapinski said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
