Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will trigger an early election this weekend for an expected vote on April 28, a government official said Thursday. The decision comes against a backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Jon Parmenter, a professor of history in the College of Arts & Sciences, says Carney’s decision to call the “snap” election looks like a smart decision.
Parmenter says: “A calculated political risk, to be sure, but one that is in keeping with the rapidly shifting nature of Canadian politics since the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
“Trump’s decision to upend longstanding trends in the United States’s political and economic relationship with Canada has left Canadians more angry with the U.S. and potentially more united than at any other point I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.
“This could be Carney’s best chance to draw off votes from the NDP and achieve a majority government for the Liberal Party. Doing so would send a strong signal to the U.S. that Canadian electorate has a broad consensus on the decision of the Liberal Party to respond in kind to the threat of American economic consequences for perceived Canadian deficiencies in border security.”
For interviews contact Adam Allington, cell (231) 620-7180, adam.allington@cornell.edu.
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