Mark Carney didn’t just keep the Liberal Party in power — he strengthened the grip, and with it the political room to push back against US President Donald Trump.
The math shifted fast. Liberals were set to win two additional seats in parliament Monday, with Misryoum newsroom reporting a projected total of 173 seats in the House of Commons — just one above the threshold needed for a majority government. A third race, a knife-edge contest in Quebec that the Liberal candidate previously won by just one vote, has yet to be called. It’s the kind of moment that makes everyone stare at the same numbers for days, refreshing and refreshing, waiting for the call.
Monday’s victories for the Liberals follow five defections by opposition politicians in the past five months. In plain terms: the government’s map changed not only because of voters, but because members jumped ship and decided the wind was blowing one way.
That is the political context, but the real atmosphere is about what Carney says the job now requires. His newfound majority, Misryoum editorial desk noted, will solidify his grip on power and allow him to push through his agenda, largely focused on rebuffing Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, and reducing Canada’s dependency on its southern neighbor. Since Carney’s rise to power last March — after the resignation of increasingly unpopular former leader Justin Trudeau — he’s also become one of the loudest global voices against Trump’s “America First” nationalism and economic intimidation.
Carney has warned of the end of the international rules-based order and called for middle powers to band together in a World Economic Forum speech that was heard around the world. He’s been trying to frame the fight as more than a bilateral spat — more like a test of whether smaller and mid-sized countries can hold a line. And if that sounds grand, his message to the US has been fairly direct too: speaking in Sydney, Australia last month, he said his strategy on dealing with Trump is “respect but not obsequiousness.” Misryoum newsroom reported Carney added, “He is more interested in your viewpoint on various things in private and that creates an ability to work through things,” but “it’s not easy, to be clear.”
There’s also the cultural layer. Trump’s hostility toward Canada has sparked a new sense of patriotism among Canadians, many of whom still refuse to travel to the US or buy American-made products as a sign of resistance against what has been widely viewed as a betrayal by their longtime ally and neighbor. Carney has both benefited from and fostered this newfound sense of unity. At the Liberal Party convention last week, Misryoum analysis indicates, he alluded to Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state, saying: “United, we will build Canada strong, a Canada for all, a Canada strong that no one can ever take away.”
But unity inside the Liberal Party isn’t total. Carney’s push for a majority has prompted backlash among some Liberals who feel his open-arms policy toward defectors risks comprising the party’s values. Long-time Conservative Member of Parliament Marilyn Gladu — who crossed the aisle to the Liberals earlier this month — has spoken outwardly against abortion, and the right to choose is a core tenet of the Liberal Party’s ethos. Still, Misryoum newsroom reporting says she is committed to voting with the Liberals on issues regarding a woman’s right to choose. And even that distinction — values versus voting — is exactly where the tension could linger, maybe louder now that the government is no longer just trying to survive.
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