Jagmeet Singh is the first ethnic minority politician to lead a major federal party in Canada. But what role will he have in the country's next government? Singh is running his third federal election campaign - and one where his party faces an uphill battle as recent polls show some of the lowest levels of support for Canada's left-wing New Democratic Party in years. The NDP faces tough competition in Canada's 2025 election which is being held on 28 April. Prime Minister Mark Carney called it shortly after he was sworn in to replace former leader Justin Trudeau. Launching his party's campaign, Singh attacked both Carney and US President Donald Trump, promising that only the New Democrats could be trusted to look out for ordinary Canadians. A practising Sikh, Singh is a former provincial Ontario legislator and lawyer by training. The 46-year-old took the helm of the party in 2017 despite no previous experience in federal politics. In 2022, Singh's NDP agreed to help prop up Trudeau's minority Liberal government in exchange for support on their shared political priorities, in particular in developing a national dental care programme for low-income Canadians and a national prescription drug programme. But last September, the NDP became the last of Canada's three main opposition parties to turn on Trudeau, with Singh accusing him of "caving" to corporate greed. The NDP leader has also made headlines for confronting hecklers. He once approached a man who was heckling him with insults on Parliament Hill, asking him to "say it to my face" in a clip that later went viral. He has faced other confrontations in the past, including a voter who told him to "cut your turban off" during the 2019 election campaign - though he handled that situation cordially, replying that Canadians "look like all sorts of people" before walking away. Singh was born in Scarborough, Ontario, a city in the Greater Toronto Area, to Indian immigrants from the state of Punjab. Singh has said he was sexually abused by a taekwondo teacher as a child, revealing in a memoir later in life that he suffered the abuse while growing up in Windsor. As a child, he also spent time in St Johns, and attended school across the border in Michigan for several years. He later got a degree in biology from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Laws from York University's Osgoode Hall Law School. Singh worked as a criminal defence attorney for years before pursuing provincial politics, eventually running provincially for a seat in the Ontario legislature in 2011. In 2019, he won his first seat in Canada's parliament in by-election - or special election - in Burnaby, British Columbia, east of Vancouver. The former human rights activist ran on pledges to forgive student loan debt, to drastically reduce Canada's carbon emissions and to ensure universal prescription drug coverage. He has found a large audience on TikTok and is also known for his style and well-tailored suits, with BuzzFeed once calling him the "most stylish politician in Canada by like a million kilometres". He is married to fashion designer Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu, with whom he has two children. Recently, he revealed he had considered leaving politics in late 2023, after he was warned by federal police that he had received credible death threats. His wife at the time was pregnant with their second child. He was under heavy police protection for weeks.

At a rally in London, Ontario, on Friday, the crowd booed as Mark Carney delivered his core campaign line about the existential threat Canada faces from its neighbour. "President Trump is trying to break us so that America could own us," the Liberal leader warned. "Never," supporters shouted back. Many waved Canadian flags taped to ice hockey sticks. Similar levels of passion were also on display at the union hall where Pierre Poilievre greeted enthusiastic supporters in the Toronto area earlier in the week. The Conservative leader has drawn large crowds to rallies across the country, where "Bring it Home" is a call to arms: both to vote for a change of government and a nod to the wave of Canadian patriotism in the face of US tariff threats. In the final hours of a 36-day campaign, Donald Trump's shadow looms over everything. The winner of Monday's election is likely to be the party able to convince voters they have a plan for how to deal with the US president. National polls suggest the Liberals have maintained a narrow lead entering last stretch. Still, Trump is not the only factor at play - he was only mentioned once in Poilievre's stump speech. The Conservative leader has focused more on voters disaffected by what he calls a "Lost Liberal decade", promising change from a government he blames for the housing shortage and a sluggish economy, and for mishandling social issues like crime and the fentanyl crisis. His pitch resonates with voters like Eric and Carri Gionet, from Barrie, Ontario. They have two daughters in their mid-20s and said they were attending their first ever political rally. "We're pretty financially secure - but I worry about them," said Eric Gionet. While he and his wife could buy their first home while young, he said, "there's no prospect" their children will be able to do the same. "I'm excited to be here," said Carri Gionet. "I'm hopeful." Tapping into voter frustration has helped opposition parties sweep governments from power in democracies around the world. Canada seemed almost certain to follow suit. Last year, the Conservatives held a 20-point lead in national polls over the governing Liberals for months. Poilievre's future as the country's next prime minister seemed baked in. Then a series of shockwaves came in quick succession at the start of 2025, upending the political landscape: Justin Trudeau's resignation, Carney's subsequent rise to Liberal leader and prime minister; and the return of Trump to the White House with the threats and tariffs that followed. By the time the election was called in mid-March, Carney's Liberals were polling neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, and by early April they had pulled slightly ahead, national surveys suggest. It has been a stunning reversal of fortunes. Seemingly dead and buried, the Liberals now believe they could win a fourth successive election, and even a majority in Parliament. Carney is pitching himself as the man most ready to meet this critical moment - a steady central banker who helped shepherd Canada's economy through the 2008 financial crisis and later, the UK through Brexit. For Conservative voter Gwendolyn Slover, 69, from Summerside in the province of Prince Edward Island, his appeal is "baffling". "Many people think Mark Carney is some kind of Messiah," she said. "It's the same party, he's one person. And he's not going to change anything." For Carney's supporters, they see a strong CV and a poise that has calmed their anxieties over Trump's threats of steep tariffs and repeated suggestions the country should become the 51st US state - though the president has been commenting less frequently on Canada during the campaign. "I'm very impressed by the stability and the serious thought process of Mark Carney," said Mike Brennan from Kitchener, Ontario, as he stood in line to meet the Liberal leader at a coffee shop in Cambridge, about an hour outside Toronto. Mr Brennan is a "lifelong Liberal" who did not initially plan to vote for the party in this election because of his dislike for Trudeau. The departure of former prime minister Trudeau, who had grown increasingly unpopular over his decade in power, released "a massive pressure valve", said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, a non-profit public opinion research organisation. "All of these angry Liberals who are either parking their votes with the [left-wing] NDP or parking their votes with the Conservatives start re-coalescing," she said. Then more disaffected Liberals and other progressive voters began to migrate towards Carney's Liberals, driven by Trump, this election's "main character", Ms Kurl said. "The threats, the annexation talk, all of that has been a huge motivator for left of centre voters." It has worked to Carney's advantage, with Trump's tariffs threats giving the political neophyte - he is the first prime minister never to have held elected public office - the chance to publicly audition to keep his job during the campaign. Trump's late-March announcement of global levies on foreign automobile imports allowed Carney to step away from the trail and take on the prime minister's mantle, setting up a call with the president and meeting US Cabinet ministers. He's never been tested in a gruelling federal election campaign, with its relentless travel, high-pressure demands for retail politics and daily media scrutiny. Yet on the campaign trail, and in the high-stakes debate with party leaders, he is considered to have performed well. Poilievre, in contrast, is a veteran politician and polished performer. But on the shifting political ground, Conservatives appeared to struggle to find their footing, pivoting their message from Canada being broken to "Canada First". Poilievre had to fend off criticism from political rivals that he is "Trump lite", with his combative style, his vows to end "woke ideology", and willingness to take on the "global elite". "I have a completely different story from Donald Trump," he has said. Canadians have historically voted in either Conservative or Liberal governments, but smaller parties - like the NDP or the Bloc Québécois, a sovereigntist party that only runs candidates in the province of Quebec - have in the past formed Official Opposition. In this campaign, both are languishing and face the possibility of losing a number of seats in the House of Commons as anxious voters turn towards the two main political parties. If the Liberals and Conservatives both succeed in getting over 38% of the vote share nationally, as polls suggest is likely, it would be the first time that has happened since 1975. The message from the NDP - which helped prop up the minority Liberals in the last government - in the final days of campaigning has been to vote strategically. "You can make the difference between Mark Carney getting a super majority or sending enough New Democrats to Ottawa so we can fight to defend the things you care about," leader Jagmeet Singh said earlier this week. The campaign has also highlighted festering divides along regional lines. With much of the campaign dominated by the US-Canada relationship and the trade war, many issues - climate, immigration, indigenous reconciliation - have been on the backburner. Even when the campaigns have focused on other policies, the discussion has centred on the country's economic future. Both frontrunners agree in broad strokes on the priorities: the need to pivot away from dependence on the US; the development of oil, gas and mining sectors; protection for workers affected by tariffs; and increased defence spending. But they disagree on who is best to lead Canada forward, especially when so much is at stake. "It's time for experience, not experiments," Carney told his supporters in London. Poilievre closing message was: "We can choose change on Monday. We can take back control of our lives and build a bright future."

Steve Rai, Vancouver Police's interim chief, told a news conference that there had been one vehicle and one suspect involved in the incident. Mark Carney said police were calling it a "car-ramming attack". The owner of a food truck selling bao buns at the festival, Yoseb Vardeh, told the BBC World Service that the attack happened right in front of his van. "This guy, he killed some of my customers," he said. "There was people waiting for their buns that got hit." Mr Vardeh added: "I stepped outside of my food truck and I just saw bodies underneath people's food trucks, husbands crying out for their wives or their kids... it was just horrible." Unverified footage posted on social media showed a number of police cars, ambulances and fire engines at the scene, with injured people lying on the ground. Police initially said nine people were killed in the incident, but that was revised up to 11 during an update on Sunday morning. Prime Minister Mark Carney changed his campaign events on Sunday, less than 24 hours before the country's national election, to offer his condolences. "Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter, those families are living every family's nightmare," Carney, the Liberal Party leader, said. "I know that I join all Canadians in mourning with you." Large rallies with thousands of supporters registered in Calgary and in Richmond, British Columbia, have been cancelled "to reflect an appropriately respectful approach and tone as the day proceeds" according to a Liberal Party source. Smaller community-focussed engagements in Saskatoon and Edmonton are proceeding. Sources said there was a "continued conversation with Vancouver and British Columbia authorities" about heading to the city. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he was "shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident", adding in a post that his "thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time." One of Vancouver's city councillors, Peter Fry, told the BBC that local residents were struggling to process what had happened. "This celebration was a huge, fun, vibrant, family-orientated street party, and it was a fantastic event. To see it turn so horrible so quickly and unexpectedly has, I think, our entire city is in shock," he said. Harjit Sajjan, who represented Vancouver South as a Liberal MP but is not seeking re-election this year, described events as "absolutely tragic" and said he would be supporting "the community as best as we can." Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated every year in the Philippines on 27 April to commemorate Lapu-Lapu, a national hero who resisted Spanish colonisation. The festival was officially set up in Vancouver - which is home to 141,230 Canadians of Filipino descent - in 2023. Its website says it "symbolises the cultural harmony and mutual respect that thrive in the province of British Columbia". Philippines President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr said he was "shattered to hear about the terrible incident", adding that the Philippine consulate general would work with Canadian authorities to ensure the tragedy was thoroughly investigated. King Charles III, who is also head of state of Canada, said he and Queen Camilla were "profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver". He added in a statement: "Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonising time for so many in Canada." Leaders of different Canadian political parties have also shared messages of condolence. Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, called the incident a "senseless attack", while the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, David Eby, said he was "shocked and heartbroken". New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh - who had attended the festival but was not present when the incident occurred - said he was "horrified to learn" that innocent people had been killed and injured. "As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families - and Vancouver's Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience," he added. Singh, Poilievre and Carney are all running in Canada's federal election on Monday. Singh's constituency of Burnaby Central lies just east of where the incident took place.

A Canadian judge overseeing a high-profile sexual assault case against five former members of the country's world junior hockey team has declared a mistrial, and ordered that a new jury be seated to hear the case. The decision on Friday came shortly after the prosecution called its first witness. A new jury was swiftly chosen to replace the 14 jurors dismissed from the case. Superior Court Justice Maria Carrocci did not give a reason for the mistrial. The reasons for it are covered by a publication ban, according to Canadian media. All five players, who each formerly played for the National Hockey League (NHL), have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The accused players are Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé and Alex Formenton. According to reporters in court, on Wednesday the judge informed the jury that "something happened over the lunch hour that I need to think about and to discuss with the lawyers". The discussion was not heard by jurors, and is covered by the publication ban. On Friday, the judge declared a mistrial and began the process of selecting new jurors. The trial will re-start on Monday, and is expected to last around eight weeks. According to Canadian law, a mistrial can be declared if there is a "real danger that trial fairness has been compromised". The charges are tied to an alleged sexual assault that took place in London, about 190km (118 miles) southwest of Toronto, in 2018, following a Hockey Canada Foundation fundraising event in the city. A 24-year-old woman initially filed a lawsuit against Hockey Canada alleging that she had been assaulted by eight players on Canada's World Junior team in a hotel room that night. In her lawsuit, she said she felt pressured not to report the incident to the police. In May 2022, sports network TSN revealed Hockey Canada, which manages programmes and teams in the country from entry-level all the way to world championships and the Olympic Games, quietly reached a settlement with the woman. The revelation was met with national outcry in Canada, resulting in the organisation losing federal funding and several high-profile sponsorship deals. Police in London later reopened their investigation into the alleged assault, and apologised for waiting nearly six years to pursue the case. Under Canadian law, a sexual assault conviction carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Standing in front of a crowd of about 100 squeezed into a small event hall in the city of Lethbridge, Dennis Modry is asking locals about Alberta's future. Who thinks Alberta should have a bigger role in Canada, he asks? A dozen or so raise their hands. Who thinks the province should push for a split from Canada and form its own nation? About half the crowd raise their hands. "How many people would like Alberta to join the US?" Another show of support from half the crowd. Mr Modry, a retired heart surgeon, is a co-leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a grassroots organisation pushing for an independence referendum. The possibility of a split has long been a talking point in this conservative-leaning province. But two factors have given it new momentum: Trump's comments about making Canada the 51st US state, and the subsequent boost that has given the Liberal Party in the polls ahead of Monday's federal election. Mr Modry told the BBC the separatist movement has grown in recent months - driven in part, he believes, by the president's rhetoric. "We're not interested in that", he said. "We're interested in Alberta sovereignty." Jeffrey Rath, however - a lawyer and rancher from Calgary who is another of the project's co-founders - was not as dismissive of Trump's 51st state suggestion. Although he agrees independence is the priority, he could see a future where Alberta joined with the US. "We have a lot more culturally in common with our neighbours to the south in Montana… [and] with our cousins in Texas, than we do anywhere else," he said. Previously on the political fringes, the possibility of a unity crisis is now being discussed out in the open. In an opinion piece for national newspaper the Globe and Mail, Preston Manning - an Albertan considered one of the founders of the modern conservative movement in Canada - warned "large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government, no matter who leads it". Accusing the party of mismanaging national affairs and ignoring the priorities of western Canadians, he added: "A vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession – a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it." This sense of "western alienation", a term used to describe the feeling that the region is often overlooked by politicians in Canada's capital, is nothing new. For decades, many in the oil and gas-rich prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan have bemoaned how they are underrepresented, despite the region's economic significance for the country as a whole. That resentment grew under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, which brought in environmental policies some Albertans view as a direct attack on the region's economic growth. National polls suggest the Liberals, now under the leadership of Mark Carney, could be headed for their fourth consecutive win come election day on Monday. That it could come in part because of a surge of support in Ontario and Quebec - the eastern provinces where so much of the population is concentrated - only adds to the regional divide. Judy Schneider, whose husband works in the oil industry in Calgary, told the BBC she would vote "yes" in an independence referendum. She said she didn't see Carney, who spent much of the last decade away from Canada but was raised in Edmonton, Alberta's capital, as a westerner. "He can come and say 'I'm from Alberta,' but is he?" Ms Schneider said. An independent Alberta remains an unlikely prospect - a recent Angus Reid poll suggested that only one in four Albertans would vote to leave Canada if a referendum were held now. A majority of Canadians, however, feel the issue should be taken seriously, a separate Nanos poll indicated. Political analysts say the divide will pose a challenge to the country's next prime minister, especially if Carney wins. And even a victory for Calgary-born Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre would "not solve the imbalance that presently exists between the East and the West," Mr Modry, the activist, said. That wider sentiment has pushed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who leads the United Conservative Party, to strike her own path in trade talks with the US, while other provincial leaders and the federal government have co-ordinated their efforts closely. She even visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. In Canada, Smith has publicly warned of a "national unity crisis" if Alberta's demands - which centre around repealing Trudeau-era environmental laws to accelerate oil and gas production - are not met by the new prime minister within six months of the election. While Smith has dismissed talk of outright separation as "nonsense", critics have accused her of stoking the flames at such a consequential time for Canada's future. Even those within the separatist movement have different ideas on how best to achieve their goals. Lorna Guitton, a born-and-bred Albertan and a volunteer with the Alberta Prosperity Project, told the BBC in Lethbridge that her aim was for the province to have a better relationship with the rest of Canada. She described the current union as "broken", and believes a referendum, or the threat of it, will give Albertans "leverage" in future negotiations with Ottawa. But Ms Guitton also dismissed any notion of it becoming a 51st US state. "They've got enough of their own problems. Why would I want to be part of that?" she said. "I would rather be my own independent, sovereign province, or a province with a better deal in Canada." At his ranch outside of Calgary in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Mr Rath has a different view. As he tended to his race horses, he spoke of the political and social attitudes of free enterprise and small government that are shared by Albertans and many Americans. "From that perspective, I would see Alberta as being a good fit within the United States," he said. He is currently putting together a "fact-finding" delegation to travel to Washington DC and bring the movement directly to the Trump administration. Many voters in Alberta, however, dismiss the notion of independence altogether, even if they agree that the province has been overlooked. Steve Lachlan from Lethbridge agrees the West lacks representation in Ottawa but said: "We already have separation, and we need to come together." And the Liberals are not entirely shut out from the province. Polls suggest that Alberta may send more Liberal MPs to Ottawa than in 2021, partly due to changing demographics that led to the creation of new ridings in urban Edmonton and Calgary. James Forrester, who lives in the battleground Calgary Centre district, told the BBC he had traditionally voted Conservative but has leaned left in recent years. This time, he will vote Liberal because of the "Carney factor". "I feel he's the best guy to deal with Trump," he said. As for the separation sentiment: "I'm not worried about it."

Donald Trump raised the matter of making Canada the US's 51st state in a March call with Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal Party leader acknowledged. The two men spoke on 28 March, the first week of the Canadian election season, but Carney had not previously shared this detail of the call, according to the Globe and Mail. "The president brings this up all the time. He brought it up yesterday. He brought it up before," Carney said at a Thursday campaign press conference. Pressed by reporters, he added, "I said that he did. He has these things in his mind. This is not news." Canada will hold elections on Monday, and Trump's tariff policies and musings about making its northern neighbour part of the United States have become critical issues in the race. "To be clear, as I've said to anyone who's raised this issue in private or in public, including the president, it will never happen," Carney added. On Wednesday, Trump said he'd spoken to Carney several times. "We had a couple of very nice conversations. Very good," he said in response to a BBC question. "But I don't think it's appropriate for me to get involved in their election." Despite Trump's insistence on staying neutral, he looms heavily over Canada's election. Since his re-election, Trump repeatedly has mentioned making Canada the "51st state" of America, which rattled Canadian leaders and infuriated residents. He referred to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "governor"- the title for the leaders of individual US states. His talk of a "51st state," coupled with the trade war sparked by Trump's tariffs, has unleashed a patriotic fervour in Canada. Even in Quebec, a province where talk of independence has long simmered, voters told the BBC they wanted leadership that would stand up to Trump. At a French language debate last week, all four major federal party leaders were grilled on how they would respond to Trump. Both Carney, who leads the Liberal Party, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, have sought to convince voters that their party is the best choice to address the trade war with the US and guide Canadians through the resulting economic uncertainty. Trump has placed a 25% tariffs on goods imported to the US from Canada, but has exempted products covered by a North American trade deal known as USMCA. He also hit Canada with global US tariffs on steel, aluminium and automobiles. In March, when Trump placed a 25% tariff on Canadian-made automobiles, Poilievre delivered remarks "condemning, without equivocation, the unjustified and unprovoked tariffs that President Trump has now announced against our auto sector."

Suzanne Dumont knows who she will vote for in Canada's election, though it's a decision made "not from my heart, it's from my head". The 70-year-old from Quebec City considers herself a sovereigntist, but hopes when Canadians go to the polls on Monday they'll elect a majority government to take on Trump. The Bloc Québécois, a federal party that supports independence and only runs candidates in the predominantly French-speaking province, can't deliver on that, she says. Supporting the Conservatives is "unthinkable" to Ms Dumont, so this time she will be voting Liberal. In Montreal, Louis Plouffe is picking up groceries at the city's Jean-Talon market. He tells the BBC that he thinks the Bloc "defends Quebec's interests well" as an opposition party in Parliament. Still, "it's not being in power", the 65-year-old says, and he wants a government with a strong mandate "ready for the wave that's coming" from the US. And while Mr Plouffe has reservations about the Liberal leader, he believes Mark Carney has come across as credible and confident in interviews. He too will vote for the party. "Canadian patriotism is on the rise in Quebec", said Émilie Foster, an adjunct professor in politics at Carleton University. "We prefer to be part of Canada instead of being part of the United States, if we have to choose," she says. Sébastien Dallaire, a pollster with Léger, puts it this way: "It's hard to say now is the time to talk about Quebec sovereignty, or now is the time to do things specifically to defend Quebec, when clearly there's a national crisis and everybody is staring not at Ottawa as the adversary, but as Washington as the clear opponent." A recent Léger survey suggests that almost 40% of voters for the Bloc believe an independent Quebec would have less influence than Canada as a whole in dealing with the US. The Liberals are currently polling at about 46% in the province, with the Bloc a distant second at 25%, slightly ahead of the Conservatives, who have long struggled to gain real traction there. Quebec can be a wildcard in general elections, and winning the province - which holds 78 seats of the 343 in the House of Commons - can propel a party to power. The abandonment of smaller parties - like the Bloc, the left-leaning New Democrats or the Green Party - is a trend seen nationwide as Canadians rally around either the Liberals or the Conservatives in the face of a new threat from their neighbour. Carney, a former central banker for Canada and the UK, is seeking to paint himself as the leader most able to help the country navigate the crisis. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is billing himself as the change candidate who can restore the "Canadian promise". It has been a remarkable election campaign, one sparked by the resignation of longtime Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then overshadowed by an unprecedented intervention from an American president which transformed the state of the race. Trump's tariffs are expected to hit Quebec especially hard. The province is one of the biggest suppliers to the US of aluminium, a sector hit by Trump's 25% tariffs. Its significant forestry and dairy industries are also in the president's sights. Quebec also fiercely protects its identity and its culture as a distinct society, and has twice held referendums on whether to seek independence from the rest of Canada. That's why the US president's repeated digs at Canada's sovereignty has sparked such disquiet here. Bloc MP Louis-Philippe Sauvé, a former political aide, is fighting to hold on to the seat he won just last September in a special election in the southwest Montreal riding of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun - an upset victory in a district considered a Liberal stronghold. The riding is historically working-class, and in recent years parts have become some of the trendiest in the city. Gentrification has brought pressures, and Sauvé tells the BBC during a pause while campaigning that issues like housing, homelessness and immigration all come up as he goes door-knocking, just as they did six months ago. "That's all still there, but for sure this general election is very much monopolised by challenges posed by the US, the Canada-US relationship," he says. "That's really what everyone's talking about." He admits some frustration that it's become the "ballot box question". "Trump won't be president of the United States for eternity," he adds. "The housing crisis will still be a problem in the next few years." The Bloc's struggles come despite a consensus that party leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn't had many stumbles in the campaign. His pitch is that the party can be a check on federal powers, warning that Ottawa might sell out provincial interests if push comes to shove in trade and security talks with the US, which are expected to launch shortly after the 28 April election. And in a number of ways, Carney is also an unusual choice for Quebec voters. Born in western Canada, his French can be shaky - usually a political liability in the province. Even Trudeau, widely viewed as bilingual, faced scrutiny over his linguistic abilities. Carney has given his own French a six out of 10. Ms Dumont said she would "never" rate him that high. Carney has also come out against sensitive issues for many Quebecers, including saying that a Liberal government would intervene if a bill that expands French-language requirements in the province were challenged at the Supreme Court. "I have a hard time explaining the lack of reaction by Quebecers," says Bloc MP Sauvé of Carney's enduring popularity in the province. "It's like there is a Teflon effect." The Liberal candidate in the riding, Claude Guay - the former CEO of IBM Canada who is taking his first run at politics - says Quebecers have taken notice of things like Trump signing an executive order making English America's official language. (French is Quebec's official language, while Canada is officially bilingual.) "The threat of the 51st state, for example, really impacts the opinions of people that may have been sovereigntist and they're thinking: 'Well, do we have a better place in Canada?'" he says. Still, no one suggests that the issue of Quebec sovereignty has been settled. About 30% of Quebecers currently back independence even as some are opting to vote with the Liberals this election. For Mr Plouffe, the shopper at the Montreal market, however, now is just not the time to take the leap. "It's not saying it won't happen, and I won't say I won't support it. But we're not ready," he says.

Canadians are set to vote on Monday in an election seen as one of the most consequential in years, as the country looks to its future amid a trade war with the US. So what are the main federal political parties promising? Their platforms address key issues on the minds of voters, from their approach a suddenly volatile US-Canada relationship to the rising cost of living to energy and climate change. Here is a breakdown on where each party stands on some of the major issues: On the cost of living Canada, like many countries, has been grappling with higher prices for everyday goods while wages have failed to keep up, and all the parties are pitching ways to keep more money in the pockets of Canadians. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are proposing tax cuts for people in the lowest tax bracket, with the Liberals promising a one-percentage-point cut and the Conservatives proposing dropping the tax rate from 15% to 12.75%. Conservatives are also in favour of removing the federal sales tax on purchases of all new homes and Canadian-made cars, while the Liberals have vowed to scrap sales taxes on homes under C$1m ($720,000; £540,000) for first-time buyers. The Bloc Québécois, a party that focuses on Quebec interests and only runs candidates in the province, wants to pass a bill that would increase Old Age Security - benefits for pensioners - payments by 10%. The party also wants to limit credit card interest rates. The left-wing NDP has proposed scrapping the federal sales tax on essentials like energy, phone and internet bills. It has also vowed to double the income received by Canadians with disabilities. On Trump's tariffs and US-Canada relations The main theme of the campaign has been how Canada's next prime minister will tackle a trade war with its closest economic ally and neighbour, after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened its sovereignty. Most of the leading federal parties agree on some form of retaliatory tariffs in response to those put in place by the US, though they have different ideas on how the money raised by these levies would be used. The Conservatives promised to put it towards tax relief, especially for workers affected by tariffs. The Liberals have also said they would use money raised by counter tariffs to help workers and businesses and the NDP vowed to put "every dollar" collected towards supporting those affected. Additionally, the Liberals have said they will spend C$5bn on measures to diversify trade internationally and within Canada and invest in infrastructure like ports and railroads, and C$2bn to protect Canada's auto industry. The Conservatives are also remove trade barriers between provinces, and will call a meeting with premiers within a month of taking office. They also want to pursue a trade and mobility agreement with the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The Bloc has called for pandemic-style support for affected workers and are pushing for more support for Quebec's aluminium industry, which has suffered under Trump's metals levies. The NDP have proposed a 100% levy on all Tesla products if Trump moves ahead with his full threatened tariffs on all Canadian goods, and to bar the president from the upcoming G7 summit in Alberta in June. On defence spending Canada has been criticised - including by President Trump - for lagging behind on its military spending, falling well short of the Nato target (which is 2% of a country's GDP). Both the Liberals and the Conservatives say they will aim to reach that goal by 2030. The Liberals say they will spend C$18bn over the next four years, which will go to purchasing new equipment like submarines and heavy icebreakers that can be used in Canada's north. The Conservatives are pledging C$17bn in that same time frame, and are vowing to build new Arctic military bases in Iqaluit and Churchill, Manitoba. The NDP has a longer timeline of 2032 for reaching the Nato target. The party would also cancel Canadian contracts for US-built fighter jets and aircrafts, and also bolster and set up new military bases in the north. On housing Home prices have skyrocketed in the last decade across the country. The Liberals want to create a standalone federal entity that would act as a developer for affordable housing. Through it, a Liberal government would supply C$25bn in debt financing for prefabricated home builders. They have also vowed to more than double annual housing starts in Canada to 500,000. Conservatives want to tie federal funding to cities based on the number of homes they have built. Their goal is to build 2.3 million homes in Canada in the next five years - about 460,000 a year. Conservatives would also sell off 15% of federal buildings so the land can be used for the construction of affordable homes. The NDP's platform is focused on building three million affordable homes in the next five years by speeding up approvals and spending C$1bn for the construction of rent-controlled homes. The party has also vowed to set aside federal land to build a total of 100,000 rent-controlled units by 2035. On energy and climate One of the Conservatives' key promises was doing away with an unpopular consumer carbon pricing pricing programme put in by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Liberal leader Mark Carney repealed it in his first week as prime minister. A similar tax on large industrial emitters, however, remains in place. The Liberals have vowed to "improve" that tax to maintain the push on reducing emissions while ensuring Canadian companies are still competitive. They plan to support carbon removal and sequestration technologies and speed approval of clean energy projects. Conservatives say they will repeal all carbon pricing, which they say will in turn reduce regulations and help boost the economy. They also want to scrap a cap on oil and gas emissions, and do away with Bill C-69, an environmental assessment act for major infrastructure. They have promised to bring in a tax credit to boost clean Canadian manufacturing to help lower emissions. The Liberals, on the other hand, want to build a Canada east-west electricity grid, though Carney has said that he, too, is open to the construction of new pipelines to reduce dependence on the US. The NDP said they would keep the industrial carbon price, and is against building an LNG pipeline in Quebec. It also opposes a proposed pipeline that would transfer oil from Alberta to New Brunswick, prioritising an east-west electricity grid instead. The NDP, the Bloc and the Green Party want to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies while the Bloc wants a cap on oil-and-gas sector emissions. The Greens additionally want to transition to a fully renewable electricity system by eliminating coal, oil, and gas-fired power generation and invest in solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy. They also want to cancel all new pipelines and oil exploration projects.

As the threat posed by US President Donald Trump tops Canada's federal election agenda, the issue of the country's contribution to global warming has been largely overshadowed. The two main contenders are pushing plans for new energy infrastructure as the country seeks to pivot away from its reliance on the US. Mark Carney's Liberals are promising to make Canada a global superpower in both conventional and green energy. The Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre want to invigorate the oil and gas sector and scrap the industrial carbon tax. It's a big shift from the 2021 election, when the environment topped the list of voter concerns. In that vote, there was a consensus between the two major parties that Canada should rapidly transition to a green economy, with a net-zero emissions law passed in June of that year. That sense of unity is now long gone. Carney, who became leader of the Liberals and prime minister in early March, has a long track record as an international champion of climate change. As well as being a governor of the Bank of England, he was a UN Special Envoy on climate action and finance and was co-chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, one of the big outcomes of COP26. However, his first action as prime minister was to repeal the consumer carbon levy. The tax - a signature climate policy of the governing Liberals - was introduced in 2019, and placed an added charge on consumers using coal, oil or gas products. It was unpopular, and for the Conservatives it became an easy target of blame for the rising cost of living in recent years. Poilievre even sought to paint his rival as "Carbon Tax Carney". Some observers believe that cancelling the tax was a smart political move, others feel it was a mistake. "By making one of your first moves the removal of the carbon price, you're accepting this narrative that climate change policy costs us too much money and isn't good for us, when, in fact, that is not the case," said Catherine Abreu, who is director of the International Climate Politics Hub and a member of Canada's Net Zero Advisory Body. "I think there's a missed opportunity here to set a new narrative framework around this in the election." Carney's election pitch on energy is to turn Canada into "a world leading superpower in both clean and conventional energy". He is emphasising his pragmatic approach, and his campaign talks about fast-tracking green energy projects and encouraging green transport and buildings, without giving too many details. He has also called for investment in technologies like carbon capture. There are other important factors that have helped cool some of the Carney climate rhetoric. Opinion polls indicate that, since late 2023, Canadian concerns over the climate fell as worries over rising prices, energy and housing costs came to the fore. The war in Ukraine has also put new emphasis on the country's bountiful natural resources in oil, gas and critical minerals. "We have had a parade of geopolitical allies turning up on our doorstep saying, we want your rocks, we want Canada to be the geopolitically secure primary resource commodity provider, in place of Russia," said Mark Winfield, a professor in the faculty of environmental and urban change at Toronto's York University. "And that's created another sort of dynamic in all of this, which was not present in previous elections." Pierre Poilievre is the man seeking to replace Carney as PM. He is running on cost of living issues, and advocating for tougher policies on law and order and what he considers "woke" cultural issues. Poilievre, whose party has a strong voter base in energy-rich regions of the country, is pushing for a major expansion of the oil and gas industries and the removal of the carbon tax on industry. While he has remained tight-lipped on whether he supports Canada's net-zero goals, he has argued that it would be better for the world if India and other Asian countries were to replace "dirty coal" with cleaner Canadian oil and gas. According to Prof Winfield, the Conservative proposals to boost oil and gas is likely to prove attractive to voters, even if the merits of expanding production don't stand up to scrutiny. Regardless of climate or energy, the key question in the minds of voters in this election is which leader is best placed to deal with the combative US president. That is especially important when it comes to the oil and gas industry. Canada is America's largest foreign supplier of oil, with around 90% of crude production heading south of the border, and the impact of energy tariffs could well be disastrous for jobs and the economy. "Our relationship with the US has completely changed," Carney said last week in the first of two election debates. "The pipelines are a national security problem for us." That concern over US dependence has revived interest in pipelines that would move oil and gas from the western provinces, where they are mainly produced, to the east, where they could be exported to new overseas markets. A previous attempt called the Energy East pipeline was shelved in 2017 due to a number of factors, including fierce opposition from some regions of the country and regulatory hurdles. In this campaign, both the Liberals and Conservatives have promised to fast track "energy corridors", though Carney has flip-flopped on his support for pipelines, knowing they are deeply unpopular with environmentalists. He is trying to walk a fine line between defending Canada as a nation under threat from Trump, and taking action on a warming climate. The Insurance Bureau of Canada reported that in 2024, there were C$8.5bn ($6.1bn; £4.6bn) in weather-related insured losses, triple the figure for 2023. And while the two election frontrunners are advocating a major role for fossil fuels in Canada's economy, this approach will clash head on with the country's climate commitments. Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, a federal party based in Quebec, has accused the pair of being in a "denial situation about climate change". "I'm sorry to crash your party guys, but you are telling fairy tales" about clean oil and gas, he said in last week's debates. Canada has promised on the international stage to curb carbon emissions by 40-45% by 2030 based on the levels in 2005. As of 2023, carbon output was only down 8.5%. Whoever wins the election will have a real challenge to square that circle. Canadians go to the polls on 28 April.

The leaders of Canada's four major federal parties have squared off in their second and final debate ahead of this month's general election. But it was someone off stage who stole much of the spotlight - US President Donald Trump. A big question heading into the two-hour forum was whether Liberal leader Mark Carney, who has been leading in the polls, would stumble. Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, managed to survive Wednesday's French debate despite being less proficient in the country's second-most spoken language. On Thursday, he found himself placed on the spot repeatedly by his three opponents: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet. How to respond to Canada's ongoing trade war with the US was a theme, but the debate also saw clashes on affordability, crime and the environment. Here are five big takeaways from Thursday's primetime showdown: Trudeau's ghost haunts Carney Carney's opponents were quick to focus on the mistakes of his unpopular predecessor, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Conservative leader Poilievre made references to the "lost Liberal decade", talking about the last 10 years when the Liberal party has been in power. He cited issues like housing affordability and the high cost of living to drive his point home. "How can we possibly believe that you are any different?" Poilievre asked Carney. Blanchet also threw down the gauntlet to Carney. "You claim you are different - you need to prove you are better." Carney was forced to defend himself multiple times, noting that he has only been in the prime minister's chair for one month despite sharing the same party banner as Trudeau. "I am a very different person than Justin Trudeau," Carney said. A softer approach to Trump tariffs The leaders were asked about how they would negotiate with Trump and respond to his tariffs on Canada. The US president has implemented blanket 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, with an exemption on products covered by the USMCA - a North American free trade deal. Canada is also hit with global US tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars. The president has also publicly spoken about Canada becoming the 51st US state. Canada's government has previously said its position is to implement "dollar-for-dollar" tariffs with the aim of inflicting maximum pain on the US economy. But during the debate, the leaders appeared to concede it is ultimately not an equal fight. "We've moved on from dollar-for-dollar tariffs," Carney said, acknowledging that the US economy is more than 10 times the size of Canada's. The Liberal leader said the focus would shift to targeted tariffs designed to maximise pain on the US and hurt Canada as little as possible. Trump appears to have softened his language on Canada in recent weeks. After a phone call with the US president in late March, Carney said Trump "respected Canada's sovereignty" and that their conversation was "constructive". Canada and the US are expected to start talks on trade and security after the 28 April election. Devil in the (policy) details For Canadians tuned in to issues facing the country beyond Trump and his tariffs, the debate offered substantive policy discussions on topics from housing to crime to immigration. It was clear that Canadians have starkly different choices before them. Poilievre frequently championed his vision of a small government that would keep taxes low to drive up economic growth and affordability for Canadians, and that would be tough on crime. 'My home is worth millions but my kids can't afford to live here' Singh, meanwhile, pushed for stronger social programmes in Canada, including expanding the country's national dental care and pharmacare programmes and other healthcare spending. Carney stuck close to the centrist point of view of his party. "Government can play a role, but its role has to be catalytic," he said during a segment on strong leadership in a crisis. Smaller parties fight for air time – and survival Canada's political system, similar to that of the UK, has several political parties - the centrist Liberals, the right-leaning Conservatives, the left-leaning New Democrats, and the Bloc, which only runs candidates in Quebec. There is also the Green Party, which was disqualified at the last minute from the debate for not running enough candidates. But polls suggest that in this election, the bulk of Canadians are opting to support either the Conservatives or the Liberals. This has left the third-place parties fighting for survival. National polls have Singh's New Democrats polling at 8.5% - which could roughly translate to just five seats out of 343, a major loss from their current 24 seats. Singh pushed to make his voice heard, repeatedly interrupting both Poilievre and Carney in a bid to set his party apart as the choice for left-wing voters. "You can't entrust all the power to Mr Carney," Singh remarked. Meanwhile, Bloc leader Blanchet inserted issues relevant to the French-speaking province at every opportunity. His party, too, stands to lose at least a dozen seats in Quebec, according to current polling. Canadian civility on display Despite the frequent crosstalk, the tone overall was rather cordial. The general sense of decorum was apparent when the leaders were discussing the housing crisis. In a rebuttal to Poilievre, Carney appeared to stop himself before laying into his opponent. "A misunderstanding... ," Carney said as he paused mid-sentence, adding: "I'll be polite." Even after some heated exchanges, Carney and Poilievre were filmed shaking hands and laughing afterwards. Not only was it strikingly different to some recent presidential debate cycles in the US, it was even friendlier than some past Canadian federal debates.