Canada's PM Mark Carney calls snap election | BBC News

so let's turn to Canada because the new prime minister is expected to announce a snap election He has been visiting the country's governor general and he has just come out So let's cross over live now Months ago uh I was at a rink in Edmonton where I'd learned to play hockey That's about as far as you can get from the grandeur of Rita Hall And I was there because I was putting up my hand to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada And I was doing that because I knew our country needed

to take action We needed to act to fix our economy We needed to act to fight the Americans We needed to act to deal with Donald Trump's terrorists immediate conclusion So just as Mark Carney there speaking in uh French of course dual languages in Canada just explaining to you the audience that Mark Carney is holding that media conference he's about to announce a snap election to end the division that it was creating amongst Canadians because we are stronger together We reverse the increase in the capital gains tax so that builders are encouraged to take risks

and be rewarded when they succeed When I met with the premers in Ottawa on Friday we agreed to eliminate barriers to trade and mobility inside our country And the federal government is leading by committing to legislate the end of all federal barriers to interprovincial trade by July 1st Together we will push to create one Canadian economy by Canada Day because we are stronger together This past week we acted to protect workers using the proceeds of our retaliatory tariffs against America's unjustified trade actions We acted to unlock major infrastructure projects and get them moving rapidly including

clean and conventional energy critical minerals and new trade corridors with reliable trading partners We acted to create new supports for farmers and businesses during this trade war We expanded dental care for millions of more Canadians And we took all of these actions and more to create the foundation to build a stronger Canada There is so much more to do to secure Canada to invest in Canada to build Canada to unite Canada That's why I'm asking for a strong positive mandate from my fellow Canadians I've just requested that the Governor General dissolve parliament and call in

an election for April 28th and she has agreed We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump's unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada President Trump claims that Canada isn't a real country He wants to break us so America can own us We will not let that happen We're over the shock of the betrayal but we should never forget the lessons We have to look out for ourselves We have to look out for each other

So incredibly strong words there from Mark Carney We're facing the most significant crisis in our lifetimes because of President Trump addressing directly the tariffs that President Trump has imposed on Canada and also this concept that President Trump sees Canada as America's 51st state Let's listen back in We can give ourselves more than any foreign government can take away And the best way we can deal with this crisis is to build our strength here at home and help people who will be hit hardest by these tariffs That's the right thing to do That's the fair thing

to do That's the Canadian thing to do That's what makes us strong As part of that strategy today I'm proposing a middle class tax cut to help all working Canadians get ahead We will cut the lowest income tax bracket by one percentage point for a middle class tax cut that will benefit a twoinome family by up to $825 a year for so Mark Carney there announcing that he is calling the snap election in Canada for the 28th of April He wants a strong mandate uh leader of the Liberal party He wants to uh increase the

strength of that party I'm asking Canadians for a strong positive mandate to deal with President Trump and to build a new Canadian economy that works for everyone Because I know we need change big change positive change You see my generation was fortunate for us There were more opportunities and life was more affordable You had to work hard but you could get ahead That was the bargain But for the generations that have followed they're working just as hard or even harder than we did But they're struggling to pay the rent to put groceries on the table

and to save for their kids' educations So Mark Carney there calling that snap election and really not mincing his words being very very critical about Donald Trump saying that he wants to break us as in the Canadian country the nation so that America can own us He's saying that the country is facing the most significant crisis in our lifetimes and laying the blame for that at Donald Trump's feet So 28th of April is when Canadians go to the polls and Mark Carney will be hopeful that his Liberal party will get a stronger mandate Of course

the main opposition the Conservative party will be hoping that they will pick up votes but uh they were ahead somewhat in the polls when Justin Trudeau was the leader of the Liberal Party That a big bounce in the polls the Liberals since Mark Carney took over When you've never fixed anything it's easy to be negative about everything when you've never built every anything when you've never had to make a payroll But negative sol uh slogans aren't solutions Anger isn't action Division isn't strength Negativity won't win a trade war Negativity won't pay the rent or the

mortgage Negativity won't bring down the price of groceries And negativity won't make Canada strong negativity New Zeal I love Canada Our country has given me everything I stood up in Edmonton two months ago and I'm standing here today because I want to give it all back to Canada so that every Canadian kid whether they're growing up in Nimo or Montreal or St John or Scarboro or Anuvik has the same opportunities that I had the same hope the same confidence in a brighter future It's time for all of us to come together and be strong So

I'm asking for your vote so we can be Canada strong Canada fo Canada And with that I'd be pleased to take your questions Thank you Prime Minister We'll begin our question period We'll take 15 minutes of question one question one followup Uh good afternoon Tom Mc Charles with the Toronto Star Sir why are you throwing the country into an election in the middle of a tariff war and if you think it's so necessary now then why not make it longer so Canadians can really test drive you to see if you represent the change you claim

to represent well a couple of things uh Tonda Um first is that we have put in place a tremendous amount of t change in the nine days that I have been prime minister Uh that includes uh changes to taxes uh including the announcement today of a middle class tax cut But very importantly we put in place protections for workers Uh so we made a commitment right from the start that we would use all revenues from retaliatory tariffs to protect our workers and we put in place changes to the EI system in order to do that

I note that Mr Polyv has taken that money and said he will use it for a tax cut and care about workers being in place We put in place protections for businesses Uh through this period we have shown the scale of our ambition in terms of creating what Canadians have asked for And I've heard this time and time again across this great country Canadians want one Canadian economy not 13 They want us to break down those barriers So we brought together the first ministers the premers of the provinces We hammered out a consensus about achieving

that We're picking up on the model that Nova Scotia and others have put in place We're making a commitment at the federal level to legislate the removal of all these barriers by Canada Day so we can have free trade by Canada Day So we've done a lot I could go on but we've done a lot in the nine days to put in place many of the foundations but what's important is that the government has a mandate from the Canadian people uh to finish the job to finish the job of building that Canadian economy to finish

the job of diversifying our trading partners and to have a strong mandate to stand up to Donald Trump and the Americans and negotiate the best deal for Canadians And that's what I will do Uh after that meeting Friday night you said you linked uh Pierre Pyv's conservatives to um Elon Musk and Donald Trump's uh approach to cutting taxes regulations foreign aid Um Mr Polyv just staked out his own platform pitch to Canadians right now today saying that he will stand up to Trump that a Liberal is still just a liberal So on what basis can

you fairly compare the Canadian Conservatives to Trump style Republican conservatives well uh first the comparisons are quite easy Uh you look at the language Um the language mirrors and and the track record of language stretches back over years It's not a recent phenomena So uh straight from the language number one Secondly from the intention So uh Elon Musk stands up and says uh and the Trump administration eliminates foreign aid within a few days uh Pierre Polyv flies in and out of Nunvet uh and says uh I'm going to eliminate foreign aid by the way doesn't

talk to the premier doesn't talk to local in uh indigenous leaders uh while he's uh while he's there not our approach obviously um so a series of not of words plus proposals which are uncannily familiar uh with uh the proposals of the Trump administration very different from Our approach very very different from approach uh for example to uh to uh building uh housing market both uh offering much greater supply very different from our approach I'll give you one last example because I know there's a long lineup of questions Today we announced that we are going

to expand dental care Now the dental care program that was put in place several months ago now serves 1.8 million Canadians 1.8 8 million Canadians have received dental care under this uh program These are people who could not afford dental care previously Pierre Polyv uh pretends they don't exist We've just expanded uh the potential pool by another 4 and a.5 million Canadians um who also are in that situation That is a very different approach to Canada That's a Canada that brings Canadians together protects all That's the Canada we're offering Good afternoon Prime Minister Ashley Burke

CBC News You've repealed the capital gains tax changes and you're promising this middle class tax cut but you're also making new spending commitments So how do you plan to pay for that and what kind of cuts will you have to make to uh keep up with your promise of a deficit below 1% of G GDP uh well a couple of things Uh one is that we are looking at driving efficiency in government In other words productivity in government by flipping around the approach to government which is to concentrate on the outcome So as Mark Carney

there going into quite uh domestic policies and what he wants to do and no doubt we'll get much much more details as Canada goes into full campaign mode ahead of during that election campaign We now know that the election date this snap election date is the 28th of April We have a number of guests uh just to dissect this a little bit further I'm very pleased to say we are joined by Mark Carassol who's a correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Mark from CBC Welcome to the BBC Lovely to speak to you Uh just in

terms of what we're seeing today arguably it's not such a surprise that Mark Carney is uh calling this snap election He will have his work cut out though in making Canadians get to know him He certainly will And yeah this is no surprise In fact we've joked around here in the newsroom at CBC that this is essentially the the worstkept secret in Canadian politics at this point Everyone kind of knew it was happening this weekend and everyone knew that an election was coming uh in the springtime but he definitely will have his work cut out

for him There are several aggregated uh public opinion polls that have been done by pollsters across this country who have shown that in a matter of mere weeks to months uh the Liberal Party under Mark Carney their new leader has pulled ahead of Pierre Paulv and the Conservative party which at one point had a strong strong lead in these polls certainly Uh but five weeks in politics is an eternity and a lot can change in five weeks as it did to get us to this point So uh certainly you can tell by the things that

he did in his 9 days as prime minister uh and the things that he's promising to do uh if he gets elected prime minister again on April 28th that Mark Carney knows as you mentioned Tasha he certainly has his work cut out for him He has a lot to do There are a lot of people who while they may like the Liberal Party uh do not necessarily trust Mark Carney because he is a prime minister who was not a sitting member of parliament to begin with He found what many seem to feel was a loophole

in getting into the Liberal leadership race and becoming prime minister that way So he has to prove that he is prime minister worthy He has to prove that essentially that he can do this the right way and uh as he has mentioned several times and this has sort of become the main u plank for all the parties now in our upcoming election He has to prove that he can stand up to Donald Trump Canadians are a little bit frightened They're worried there are these incoming tariffs at the start of April Uh there are open threats

to our sovereignty coming from the uh the US president So people are very concerned and they feel as though many Canadians feel as though we're currently on a rudderless ship We have a prime minister who uh stepped down Our parliament was already proroged has been proged since the start of the new year Uh and and no one really knows where we go from here So the country wants strong leadership Mark on that point that he wasn't elected I did actually and and we will bring Professor Lander in who has been uh with us throughout all

of this press conference by Mark Carney But Mark just that idea that he wasn't elected Um Professor Lander corrected me in saying that well he actually did go through a sort an election for the leadership So he's been through a little bit of the politics uh and personally has a mandate by being elected as the leader of the Liberal Party but you still feel that there's still a little bit of ambiguity as to whether that was the right way to do it It's it's certainly not um illegal in any way but the thing is is

that yes he was elected by members of the Liberal Party However that is not a poll of the wider Canadian public That is a poll specifically of uh members of the Liberal Party card carrying membership paying members of the Liberal Party Uh and they elected their leader And yes in Canada we do not elect prime ministers Uh we uh vote for our uh individual MPs our our system is essentially modeled after your Westminster system Tasha Um but because he has not been elected prime minister by the wider Canadian public there is a lot of people

who just feel a little bit iffy about him and and are not quite sure And I think many people will be grateful for the opportunity to have a full wide um federal election It's it's not something that people necessarily look forward to most times most years but I think this time around uh people will very much look forward to having that wide uh for lack of a better term public opinion poll here Fascinating So Mark you're going to be busy uh during that election time Mark Carassol during the campaigning correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

CBC Thank you very much So let's bring in our previous guest Professor Moshi Lander senior economist at Concordia University in Montreal Thank you so much for staying with us uh as we watch Mark Carney coming out there He was really strong wasn't he he was saying Canada's facing the most significant crisis of our lifetime He said that America wants to break Canada so that they can own us Are you surprised by the strength of his words no he's had nine days to write that speech Uh so he's going to have to come out of the

box as Mark was just saying before you brought me back in uh he hasn't faced the Canadian public yet in an elected uh office So uh if this is going to be the first time that Canadians are hearing him speak beyond just his role as the previous governor of the Bank of Canada then you can't come out and mince words You can't say let's hope that somewhere over the next 5 weeks we figure out what it is that we want to do Here's our plan Here's what we're going to do Here's the threat we see

and here's how we're going to address it I think he did a very good job French was a little iffy but uh I think that's forgivable I have to say our producer is French and he was uh yes there raised a little bit of eyebrow on terms of the pronunciation but of course we know that Canada is a bilingual nation just just in terms of the how he was perceived in Canada as the head of the bank of Canada the central bank of the country was he popular you know I don't know that bank of

Canada governors have any sort of popularity or queue rating uh I I I often ask my students does anybody know who the current bank of Canada governor is and I get blank looks and sometimes I even have to remind myself what the current governor looks like when I see him on TV I'm like oh right that's him Uh it's an extremely powerful position Uh it's independent of the government They have a mandate to keep inflation between 1 and 3% Other than a couple of years after co they've been extremely successful going back to the early

1990s Uh but the fact is that they're unelected and other than appearing every six or seven weeks to give a speech about what they're going to do with interest rates They're mostly touring among the the business leaders of Canada and and giving speeches there but it doesn't really resonate with the Canadian public So I'm not sure that anybody's would really remember him other than just "Yeah I seem to recall he did a good job." So he needs to effectively reintroduce himself and especially in this kind of political framework and his his role as the leader

of the Liberal Party Just technically then what happens we heard there from our correspondent our colleague at CBS CBC rather uh describing that the your system the Canadian system echoes mirrors the UK system Of course the the King King Charles is the head of state in Canada Absolutely So we have about 340 some odd writings similar to what you would have in the UK just not as many because we don't have as many people Everybody is going to vote for who they want to be their member of parliament And so the liberals the conservatives and

the new democratic party which would kind of be similar to your lib dems uh a little bit left of center but maybe not with the pro marketetry that has its history Uh it's maybe a little more of our socialist party are going to have representatives in every writing Uh there's a separatist movement in Quebec that's probably going to offer up some candidates as well And at the end of the day it's whoever the leader is of the largest party is going to be asked by the governor general the king's representative to form a government And

so it's very very similar Uh and unlike the US system we're not directly voting for Mark Carney Uh but it is true that similar to the UK I think in a lot of cases uh the personality of the leader uh tends to reflect into the local politics And so uh even though you're supposed to be voting for who you want to represent it's hard to ignore the fact that we have three leaders essentially to choose from And that's going to strongly influence I think the way the vote goes as well And so just Moshi we're

briefly if you would just when it comes to the main opposition candidates how do they test themselves and how how do they look like when it comes to Mark Carney because we know that we already said he's a smoothing he's confident What about the other two so the leader of the NDP party is JagMat Singh He uh has been leader for some years now I don't know that he's a credible prime minister It's just very difficult to be able to form a government uh that far to the left in Canadian politics The Liberals are going

to be the centrist group of the bunch Pierre Palev is the uh leader of the Conservative Party He's been there for some time now He's a former minister in the previous Conservative government Uh he will certainly appeal to the base in the Canadian prairie provinces which tend to lean a little more right He's going to have to work really hard to win over the major centers in Toronto Montreal and Vancouver And I think whoever is going to form the next government really win needs to win a lot of those ridings uh to to make the

numbers add up I don't know that any of them have necessarily the power to create a majority government So we could be facing another minority government here where you're being propped up Thanks for being with us on BBC News