Diane Francis: Carney should form a unity government with the Conservatives

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, left, and Prime Minister. Mark Carney shake following the English Federal Leaders Debate broadcast at CBC-Radio-Canada in Montreal, Que. Photo by CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images files

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Canada’s political landscape shifted to a two-party system for the first time in years, giving the Liberals a slight advantage. But the man not even on the ballot, U.S. President Donald Trump, influenced the outcome more than any of the Canadian party leaders. As such, the election of 2025 could be considered a referendum on joining the United States that was roundly rejected by Canadians.

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Canadians fled into one of the two mainstream parties as Trump waded directly into the campaign. On election day, the president broke the unwritten rule that American and Canadian leaders won’t interfere directly in each other’s elections, when he argued on social media that Canadians should vote for whoever would pave the way for Canada to become the 51st state.

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“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, with ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”

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Canadians lined up behind their two biggest parties, and the tattered and discredited Liberals made a comeback with Leader Mark Carney. This was a surprise, given the Liberal incompetence of the past decade, but also the result of the fact that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s campaign dropped the ball. It was sabotaged by inept campaign management and loose-cannon candidates, and dogged by criticism levelled by Ontario Conservatives. Even so, Poilievre’s team won over 40 per cent of the popular vote, but he lost his own seat in Ottawa.

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Poilievre said he will remain leader, but he will now have to win a seat if he hopes to continue on. Carney is thoroughly inexperienced as a political leader and inherits a crisis. This is why he must form a “national unity” government with the Tories in order to govern and negotiate with Donald Trump effectively. There is much work to be done. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau ruined living standards, housing, immigration, health care and business opportunities across Canada.