Trump’s tariffs make for unusual election campaign as Carney juggles roles

MONTREAL — Mark Carney started the first week of his first election campaign by dissolving parliament and quickly hitting the hustings — but he’s ending it with his prime minister hat on.

Carney spent the last several days alternating between his role as Liberal leader, holding partisan rallies tinged with patriotic flag-waving, and his other job as prime minister, addressing new tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump from behind the lectern.

Carney on Thursday addressed the nation from Ottawa about the escalating tariff threats, then sped off to a rally in Montreal where he was flanked by dozens of Liberal candidates. From Montreal on Friday morning, he took a phone call with Trump as the stability of Canada’s manufacturing sector hangs in the balance. That came just ahead of a call with the premiers.

Experts and political practitioners call it a rare situation, one granting Carney’s campaign an edge while he acts as prime minister during a national crisis — especially since his campaign is built around standing up to Trump.

“It gives him a boost for sure,” said Lori Turnbull, political science professor at Dalhousie University. “Anything he does on the world stage only makes him look more prime ministerial.”

Carney has had to turn his tour plans on a dime this week, as Trump signed an executive order for sweeping tariffs on foreign automakers on Tuesday, which sent shock waves through Canada’s manufacturing sector and prompted Carney to head to Ottawa.

Scott Reid, once a political adviser to former prime minister Paul Martin, called Carney’s situation “very atypical,” although it comes on the heels of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s recent re-election bid lifted by Trump’s threats.

“As odd as this is, I would not be surprised if it gets even stranger because it’ll happen multiple times,” Reid said, noting more tariffs are expected to come next week, on April 2.

“We may find two to three weeks from now that the prime minister has to (temporarily) drop out of the campaign again.”

Just a few months ago, incumbency was a mark against the Liberals’ electoral prospects. Under Justin Trudeau, the party cratered in the polls amid the public’s frustrations with the cost of living.

Now, even at routine events, such as touring factories during his whistle-stop travels through the country on a bright red Liberal campaign bus, Carney introduces himself to workers as the prime minister and offers reassurances about how he plans to tackle the waves of trade threats that could mean their very jobs.

“We’ve got to stand strong, not make big concessions,” Carney told workers at a plastics plant that makes custom auto parts in Windsor this week. “We’re not going to get picked off, running around (responding to the) latest tweet or headline.”

“From a campaign perspective, it’s probably not all-together bad for the Carney government,” said Kory Teneycke, who was Ford’s campaign manager.

“It certainly wasn’t altogether bad for the Ford government, given that’s the big issue the Canadians are focused on, and it allows you to talk about what your main message is.”

That balance could change based on what Trump does.

Prime ministers are often forced to deal with issues and events during elections, which can complicate their strategies.

Martin travelled overseas to mark the anniversary of D-Day in France in 2004 — changing where the Liberals campaigned within Canada and taking them off message, Reid notes. Teneycke recalled when former prime minister Stephen Harper’s campaign in 2015 was off its main message when dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis.

In 2021, former prime minister Justin Trudeau launched his third election campaign the day Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban, forcing Trudeau to spend much of that campaign answering questions about Canada’s efforts to help evacuate Canadians and Afghans who had assisted with Canada’s mission in the country.

Philippe Lagassé, an associate professor at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, said the closest historical comparison to the Trump situation might actually be to a wartime prime minister campaigning during World Wars I and II.

The rules for governing during elections have changed since then, with the refinement of a modern “caretaker” convention where prime ministers are expected to restrain themselves, following the dissolution of Parliament, from making major decisions that will affect the incoming government.

The guidelines recommend that decisions about policies, spending and political appointments should be made in consultation and agreement with the other opposition parties — something that seems unlikely to happen in the current polarized political environment.

“In an ideal scenario, we would see some of that,” said Lagassé. “Maybe the politics doesn’t allow that right now.”

Adding to the strange situation, Carney doesn’t hold a seat in Parliament and has never tested the confidence of the House of Commons — although he currently enjoys strong poll numbers.

“He really doesn’t have any kind of sense of political mandate to try to map onto the situation, apart from what he’s got with the Liberals (by winning party leadership),” said Turnbull. “That’s pretty unusual.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press