Montreal, Canada – Canadians will be heading to the polls next month for a federal election taking place in the shadow of a trade war with the United States.
Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday triggered the vote as he seeks to build on his Liberal Party’s momentum since the start of the year.
Experts say Canada-US ties – and a push for strong leadership to counter US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats against the country – will dominate the five-week election race.
Here’s a look at what you need to know about Canada’s election.
When is the election?
The parliamentary election will take place on Monday, April 28.
Under Canadian election rules, federal campaign periods must be at least 37 days long but no more than 51 days.
With Carney triggering the vote on Sunday and Election Day set for April 28, this year’s campaign will be the shortest allowable by law.
How does the election work?
Canada has 343 federal electoral districts, which are known as ridings.
Eligible voters can cast a ballot for their preferred candidate in the riding in which they reside.
The country has a first-past-the-post election system, which means that the candidate who secures the most votes in the riding wins – even if they don’t win a majority of the votes.
They will then take up their respective seats in Canada’s lower house of Parliament, the House of Commons.
Who will be the next prime minister?
Under Canada’s parliamentary system, the party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons will typically be asked to form a government. If a party gets the most seats but not enough for an outright majority, it seeks to form an agreement with another party – or parties – to be able to pass legislation.
The leader of the single largest party also becomes prime minister; Canadians do not vote directly for prime minister.
What parties are in the running?
Canada has four major federal political parties.
The Liberals have been in government since 2015 and had 152 seats in Parliament at dissolution. The party was previously led by Justin Trudeau, who formally stepped down as prime minister on March 14 to allow Carney to take up the post.
The Conservative Party served as Canada’s official opposition, with 120 seats in the previous Parliament. The party is led by Pierre Poilievre, an Ottawa-area legislator known for his populist rhetoric.
The left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), led by Jagmeet Singh, had 24 parliamentary seats before the campaign was launched. The NDP had previously been propping up a Trudeau-led Liberal minority government but withdrew from that deal in September of last year.
The Bloc Quebecois – which only runs candidates in the French-speaking province of Quebec – had 33 legislators in the House of Commons. They are led by Yves-Francois Blanchet.
Apart from the four big parties, there is also the Green Party of Canada, which had two seats in Parliament at dissolution but is not expected to make any major gains in the upcoming vote.
What do the polls say?
Until as recently as January, the Conservatives had what many believed to be a clear path to winning a parliamentary majority.
But Trump’s threats against Canada, coupled with Trudeau’s decision to resign and Carney’s rise as the new leader of the Liberal Party, have changed things: Most recent polls now suggest the Liberals either with a lead over the Tories, or locked in a neck-and-neck fight with their rivals.
The CBC News Poll Tracker, which aggregates national polling data, had the Liberals with 37.5 percent support compared with 37.1 percent for the Conservatives on Sunday.
The NDP was in third with 11.6 percent, followed by the Bloc Quebecois at 6.4 percent. The Greens had 3.8 percent.
“The Liberals and Conservatives are effectively tied in national polls with the New Democrats trailing in a distant third place,” CBC reported as the election race began.
“The Liberals would likely win the most seats, and potentially a majority government, if the election were held today due to the more efficient distribution of their support across the country.”
What issues will dominate the race?
Opposition parties – including, most notably, Poilievre and the Conservatives – had hoped the 2025 election would centre on affordability issues, such as soaring grocery and housing costs.
But Trump’s tariffs and threats to make Canada into the US’s “51st state” have upended the conversation.
Experts now say the central “ballot question” in the election campaign will be which party is best equipped to handle Trump and manage Canada-US ties.
Canada’s main political party leaders have acknowledged Canadians’ concerns over Trump’s policies, promising to stand up for the country’s sovereignty.
