Mark Carney is not a member of the Canadian parliament, but as of Friday he’s prime minister and much more likely to win the next election for his Liberal Party than if Trump had left Canada alone.
Before Trump started trolling Canada as America’s 51st state, Canada’s Conservatives held a 25-point lead in polls.
They now have a one point lead and Carney – ex-governor of both the British and Canadian central banks – is expected to call an election any time before October.
He and the Conservatives’ Pierre Poilievre will compete to out anti-Trump the other.
That will be harder for Poilievre because he’s cosied up to Trump in the past, but both will have to respond to Trump’s suggestion that Canadians would be better off in the US.
They’re currently about $30,000 worse off in per capita GDP terms despite having abundant reserves of oil, gas, potash, timber, rare earths and uranium, and the lowest net debt in the G7.
Despite being the second largest country in the world by surface area, they also have a chronic housing shortage.
