AFN previously reported the ruling Liberal Party has been surging in the polls as many Canadians are not reacting well to Trump's threat of sweeping tariffs and his continual talk of making Canada the 51st State.
Next month the Liberal Party is expected to name Mark Carney as their new leader, and he will automatically become temporary prime minister replacing the very unpopular Justin Trudeau (right, with former U.S. President Joe Biden). The next election for prime minister will be Oct. 20.
Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, says Trump is having an effect on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, not on Trudeau.
“I don’t believe it’s having any positive impact on Trudeau’s popularity. People are still very angry with him and what he’s done,” McVety said.
Access to affordable housing, inflation and a struggling healthcare system have all contributed to Trudeau’s sinking approval ratings.
But the Trump Effect could be having an impact on Poilievre, whose party had been leading substantially in public opinion polls.
“Poilievre is a conservative, but he's a very weak conservative, and unfortunately he has not taken the proper stands. He is starting to bend, and he was asked the other day about the transgender movement that he has been on side with, but all of a sudden he is supporting Donald Trump that there are only two genders, and they keep men out of women's sports. So yeah, Trump is having an impact, and I believe that Poilievre will negotiate."
McVety: Conservatives need a big tent
But first, Poilievre has to win. McVety says a victory by the Conservatives is not in the bag and that Poilievre needs to find a way to appeal to all within the party.
“If he just wants to continue going down the left side of the Conservative party, then he probably will not win. The only way to win is to have a big tent and allow all conservatives to have full participation."
While Trump may make Canada’s Conservative Party candidate even more conservative, his talk of tariffs has tossed a lifeline to the Liberal Party. It has “impacted the polls quite dramatically,” McVety said.
He calls Carney a “terrible globalist” but one without Trudeau’s baggage.
“That’s what you’re seeing people upset about,” McVety said, “ … the potential of losing jobs and our economy on the brink of disaster depending on what Donald Trump does in the next two weeks.”
