MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is calling for a snap election. He's doing that a week and a half into his job. Canadians vote for a new legislature, which Carney says the country needs to face threats from the United States.
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PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY: President Trump claims that Canada isn't a real country. He wants to break us so America can own us.
MARTIN: We've placed a call to hear more about this from Canada, at - where Daniel Beland directs the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. Good morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
DANIEL BELAND: Good morning. Thanks for the invitation.
MARTIN: Why so soon?
BELAND: Well, Mark Carney is not an MP. It's the first time he will actually run for elected office in Canada. He recently became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. And in Canada right now, we have a - well, until yesterday, we had a minority Parliament. And so it means that the Liberals needed support from at least one other party to stay in power. So instead of returning to Parliament - and the set date was actually today - elections were triggered yesterday. So the Parliament was dissolved, and now we have elections in a very short campaign of about five weeks.
MARTIN: So he's hoping to get a majority. He's hoping that his party will have a majority so he won't need to have a coalition government. Is that right?
BELAND: That's right. In Canada, at the federal level, we don't really have coalition governments. It's - but certainly, he wants to have a majority government. Otherwise, if it's a minority government, he needs support from at least one opposition party - maybe more - to stay in power.
MARTIN: So what's likely to be the central issue of the campaign? Is there one?
BELAND: Yes - I think that Canada-U.S. relations, the trade war and even the integrity of Canada as a country. I mean, sovereignty and the identity of Canada are certainly on top of mind of the agenda, alongside cost-of-living issues and broader economic issues. But these are related because, of course, the trade war has profound economic implications.
MARTIN: So it seemed, though, his Liberal Party was on the back foot, right? Correct? Until Trump spoke up, was - would that be accurate?
BELAND: Yes. I do think that the - what the president has said and done has really helped the Liberals in the polls. You know, when Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on January 6, the Liberals were way, way behind the Conservatives in the polls, and now they are neck and neck. And according to the most recent seat projections, the Liberals will probably have the upper hand - if the elections were held today. Of course, there are still five weeks of campaigning, and campaigns do matter. But, yes, so far, what President Trump has said and done regarding Canada has helped the Liberals.
MARTIN: Before we let you go, as briefly as you can - in terms of policy, is Carney very different from Trudeau, his predecessor?
BELAND: He's moving the party towards the center. I think that he's less progressive in terms of social policy, so the focus is really much on the economy and on making Canada stronger. That's his slogan. And the slogan of Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party and the Conservatives, is Canada first. So a lot of nationalism or patriotism, if you want, at the center of this campaign.
MARTIN: That is Daniel Beland. He's the director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. Mr. Beland, thank you so much for joining us and sharing these insights with us.
BELAND: You're most welcome. Have a wonderful day. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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