How Donald Trump caused biggest political turnaround in Canada

President Donald Trump of the United States has made the Liberal Party of Canada win an election everyone concluded just in January that they had no chance of winning.

Up until January, the Liberals were so unpopular that they were more than 25 points behind the Conservatives in opinion polls. After nine years as prime minister, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals became names most Canadians didn’t want to hear anymore.

Even in ridings or political districts that were strongly controlled by the Liberals, Canadians voted against the Liberals in provincial elections or federal by-elections in the last year.

Ministers began to resign from Trudeau’s government.

Eventually, on January 6, 2025, Trudeau announced that he would step down as prime minister in March.

Then on January 20, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the president of the United States. He began calling Canada the 51st state of the US. He called the prime minister of Canada the “governor” of Canada. He threatened tariffs against Canada and started implementing them.

What was thought to be a joke became a reality. Canadians were angered. They felt betrayed by their biggest ally and neighbour.

Everything changed almost overnight.

Most Canadians got as patriotic as they have never been for decades. They rejected everything made in the US and began to patronize only Canadian goods. Even holidays to the US were cancelled.

They speedily began to change their views about the Liberals, as they saw the Conservative Party as the Canadian mini version of Donald Trump. They believed that the new Liberal Party leader, Mark Carney, would square up better with Trump than the Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre.

Opinion polls changed speedily.

From being written off, the Liberals surged in opinion polls, caught up with the Conservatives, and overtook them just before voting started.

Then on Monday, April 28, Canadians cast their votes. They gave the Liberals a fourth consecutive term, something most Canadians never believed was possible just a few months ago.

Canadian voters were so decisive that even the Conservative Leader, Poilievre, who was seen in January as the Canadian PM-in-waiting, lost his parliamentary seat: a seat he had won consecutively since he was 24 years old. Now, it is not just that he lost a golden opportunity to be the PM of Canada; he won’t even return to Parliament.

This is like being at the door of the Promised Land, only to be pushed away by somebody from nowhere.

What would Poilievre be thinking about Donald Trump?