Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the question in the upcoming national vote is who would be the best candidate to deal with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Carney’s comments came in response to Conservative Pierre Poilievre saying during the French-language leaders’ debate that Canada needs change and Mr Carney is just like his predecessor Justin Trudeau.
“Mr. Poilievre is not Justin Trudeau. I’m not Justin Trudeau either. In this election the question is who is going to face Mr Trump,” Mr Carney said.
At the end of last month, the former Bank of England chief called a snap election against the backdrop of a trade war with the US and threats from President Trump to make Canada part of America.
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Mr Carney’s governing Liberals had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year, but Mr Trump’s trade war and attacks on Canada’s sovereignty triggered a surge in nationalism which has bolstered Liberal Party poll numbers ahead of the vote on 28 April.
‘Relentless focus’
Mr Poilievre has been urging Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth term.
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“One of the differences, there are many, but one of the differences between the two of us is that I put much more emphasis on the economy, on growing the economy,” Mr Carney said when asked about Mr Trudeau at a news conference after the debate.
“In fact in this circumstance that we are in, given the scale of the crisis, I would say relentless focus on growing the economy.”
“We need change. You do not embody change,” Mr Poilievre said to Mr Carney.
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Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanche, whose party is losing support to Carney’s Liberals in Quebec, agreed, saying the Liberals are the same party, the same ministers and the same politicians and a new leader does not change that.
In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%.
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In the latest Nanos poll released Wednesday, the Liberals led by eight percentage points. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points while the latest poll had a 2.7-point margin.
Mr Carney was the head of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis. In 2013, he became the first non-UK citizen to run the Bank of England, and helped to manage the impact of Brexit.
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