Trump's tough talk might help Liberal Mark Carney win a full term as Canada's prime minister

TORONTO (AP) — Mark Carney's political career is only months old, and it's already been a roller-coaster ride. The former central banker appeared destined to become one of Canada's shortest-serving prime ministers until U.S. President Donald Trump picked a fight with the neighboring country.

Carney, who was sworn in on March 14 following Justin Trudeau's resignation and a Liberal Party leadership race, now leads in the polls heading into the April 28 parliamentary election, marking a dramatic turnaround for a party that seemed destined for a crushing defeat until Trump started attacking Canada's economy and sovereignty almost daily.

Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in nationalism that has helped the Liberals flip the election narrative.

In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%. In the latest Nanos poll, which was conducted during a three-day period that ended April 20, the Liberals led by eight percentage points. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points, while the latest poll had a 2.7-point error margin.

“Timing is everything in politics, and Carney entered the political arena at a most favorable time,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Carney's opponent is Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, a career politician and firebrand populist who has campaigned with Trump-like swagger, even taking a page from the “America First” president by adopting the slogan “Canada First.”

“This election is a test about whether Canada will embrace or reject populism," Béland said, suggesting many voters view Carney as reassuring because of his experience and calm.

“Without the Trump effect, the Conservatives would probably be in a much stronger position in the polls right now," he said. "If Trump wasn’t currently in the White House, it would be hard to imagine the Liberals being the favorites in this federal race, considering how unpopular they were just a few months ago.”

Carney navigated crises when he ran Canada’s central bank and when he later became the first non-U.K. citizen to run the Bank of England since its founding in 1694.

His Bank of England appointment won bipartisan praise in the United Kingdom, after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called it “extraordinary” that a country would choose a foreigner to head its central bank, and that it's a mark of how admired Carney is.

"He is calm and cool in a crisis,” Paulson said. “He’s a clear thinker and he understands finance cold. He’s very well prepared.”

Carney, 60, is credited with keeping money flowing through the Canadian economy by acting quickly in cutting interest rates to their lowest level ever, working with bankers to sustain lending through the financial crisis and, critically, letting the public know that rates would remain low so they would keep borrowing.

He was the first central banker to commit to keeping them at a historic-low level for a definite time — a step the U.S. Federal Reserve would follow.

Carney also helped manage the worst impacts of Brexit in the U.K. Paulson said that Carney has the “perfect background” for these challenging times.

“Everything he’s done, he’s excelled at. Every job — the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England,” Paulson said. “I don’t know anyone who has dealt with him that doesn’t respect him. Whether they agree or disagree with him, they respect him. He’s got a very, very nice manner.”

Both Conservative and Liberal prime ministers tried to make Carney their finance minister, the second-most powerful position in Canada's government. Former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Carney the Bank of Canada governor and later offered to make him finance minister. Trudeau, Carney's Liberal predecessor, long wanted him as his finance minister.

Carney is a former Goldman Sachs executive. He worked for 13 years in London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto before being appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Canada in 2003.

He was born in Fort Smith, in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories. When he was 6, his family moved to Edmonton, where his mother taught school and his father became a professor of education history at the University of Alberta.

Carney earned a partial scholarship to Harvard University, where he was the backup goalie on the hockey team. Influenced by John Kenneth Galbraith, who pioneered the popular notion that economics should be accessible to the masses, Carney took up economics.

A married father of four, Carney earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard in 1988, and master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Oxford University.

Carney has said that Canada's close friendship with the U.S. has ended, and he squarely blamed Trump.

Trump mocked Carney’s predecessor by calling him Governor Trudeau. He hasn't trolled Carney. But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this month that Trump hadn't changed his position that Canada “would benefit greatly by becoming the 51st state.”

Carney said that the 80-year period when the U.S. embraced the mantle of global economic leadership and forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect is over.

“There is no going back. We in Canada will have to build a new relationship with the United States,” he said.

If elected, Carney said that he would accelerate renegotiations of the free trade deal with the U.S. in an effort to end the uncertainty hurting both economies.

“President Trump is trying to fundamentally restructure the international trading system and in the process he’s rupturing the global economy,” Carney said.

“The core question is who is going to be at the table for Canada,” he said.

FILE - Canada Liberal Leader Mark Carney talks to the media as he leaves the prime minister's office and makes his way to a caucus meeting in Ottawa on March 10, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives in Paris on March 17, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, reflected in a mirror, speaks to media during a press conference at Canada House in London on March 17, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Mark Carney, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, embraces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after being announced the winner at the Liberal Leadership Event in Ottawa, Ontario, March 9, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Liberal Party of Canada Leader Mark Carney delivers his speech after being announced as the winner of the party leadership in Ottawa, Ontario, March 9, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Canada Liberal Leader Mark Carney visits the Sheridan College Police Foundations department in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, April 10, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

GUANARE, Venezuela (AP) — Freedom came too late for Edilson Torres.

The former police officer was set to be buried Tuesday in his humble, rural hometown following his death in a Venezuelan prison, where he was held incommunicado since his November detention on what his family said were politically motivated accusations. Hours ahead of the ceremony, his children, neighbors, police officers, friends and dozens others gathered to pay their respects.

Torres, 51, died of a heart attack on Saturday, just as his family awaited the government's promised release of prisoners following the U.S. capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro. His death comes as scores of families like his — who once hesitated to approach advocacy groups — are now coming forward to register their loved ones as “political prisoners.”

Alfredo Romero, director of the organization Foro Penal, a non-governmental organization that tracks and advocates for Venezuelan prisoners, said the group has received a “flood of messages” since last week from families.

“They didn’t report it out of fear, and now they’re doing it because, in a way, they feel that there is this possibility that their families will be freed,” Romero said. “They see it as hope, but more importantly, as an opportunity.”

The head of Venezuela’s national assembly said last week that a “significant number" of Venezuelan and foreigners imprisoned in the country would be released as a gesture to “seek peace.”

Romero explained that of the roughly 300 families who reached out, about 100 cases so far have been confirmed as politically motivated. Most of those reported over the past few days, he said, once worked for Venezuela's military.

As of Tuesday morning, Foro Penal had confirmed the release of 55 prisoners. While Venezuela's government reported a higher figure of 116, it did not identify them, making it impossible to determine whether those freed were behind bars for political or other reasons.

“My little brother, my little brother,” Emelyn Torres said between sobs after his casket, cloaked in Venezuela's flag, arrived at her home for the wake. A few feet away, their grandmother nearly fainted as dozens of people crammed into the living room to pay their respects.

Hours earlier, as a minivan transported the body of her brother 267 miles (430 kilometers) from the capital, Caracas, to Guanare, Torres learned that other men linked to the WhatsApp group that led to her brother's arrest had just been released from prison. She wailed. He did not live long enough to walk free.

Among those who have been released are: human rights attorney Rocío San Miguel, who immediately relocated to Spain; Biagio Pilieri, an opposition leader who was part of Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado’s 2024 presidential campaign; and Enrique Márquez, a former electoral authority and presidential candidate.

Italian businessman Marco Burlò, who was released from prison Monday, told reporters outside an international airport in Rome Tuesday that he was kept isolated throughout his detention, which he characterized as a “pure and real kidnapping.”

“I can’t say that I was physically abused, but without being able to talk to our children, without the right to defense, without being able to speak to the lawyer, completely isolated, here they thought that I might have died," he said.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Flor Zambrano, whose son, Rene Chourio, she says is detained at Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police for political reasons, embraces relatives of other detainees outside the facility in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A photo of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being arrested on accusations of treason, and his family adorns his coffin during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Relatives of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being arrested on accusations of treason, sit by his coffin during his wake in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Emelyn Torres leans over the casket of her brother, Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being detained on accusations of treason, during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Emelyn Torres and Maria Cristina Fernandez, the sister and grandmother of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison after being detained on accusations of treason, embrace during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)