TORONTO (AP) — Canadians will vote for a new government on Monday in an election that has been upended by U.S. President Donald Trump 's trade war and his threats to make Canada the 51st state.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and the governing Liberal Party appeared poised for a historic election defeat until Trump slapped heavy tariffs on Canada and began threatening its sovereignty.
Trump's attacks have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips to their southern neighbor and avoiding buying American goods when they can. The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberals' poll numbers.
The opposition Conservative Party had hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity cratered as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged. But after decades of bilateral stability, the vote is now expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with Trump.
Voters nationwide will elect all 343 member of the House of Commons, one for each constituency. There are no primaries or runoffs — just a single round of voting.
Like the U.K., Canada uses a “first-past-the-post” voting system, meaning the candidate who finishes first in each constituency will be elected, even if they don’t get 50% of the vote.
This has generally cemented the dominance of the two largest parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, because it’s difficult for smaller parties to win seats unless they have concentrated support in particular areas.
The party that commands a majority in the House of Commons, either alone or with the support of another party, will form the next government and its leader will be prime minister.
Carney replaced Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained in power until the Liberal Party elected a new leader, Carney, on March 9.
Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister on March 14. He hopes to retain the job and avoid becoming one of Canada’s shortest-serving prime ministers.
Carney, 60, is one of the two main candidates. He successfully navigated financial crises when he headed the Bank of Canada and later ran the Bank of England, becoming the first non-U.K. citizen to do so since its 1694 founding.
A highly educated economist, Carney worked for 13 years for Goldman Sachs in London, Tokyo, New York and Toronto, before being appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Canada in 2003. He has financial industry and public service credentials.
Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservatives, is Carney’s main challenger. He and the party seemed headed for a big victory in the election until Trump's near-daily trade and annexation threats derailed them.
Poilievre, 45, is a career politician and firebrand populist who says he will put “Canada first.” For years his party’s go-to attack dog, he frequently criticizes the mainstream media and vows to defund Canada’s public broadcaster.
There are two other parties that have official status in Parliament. If the Liberals or Conservatives secure the most seats in the House of Commons but fail to win a majority, they would need to rely on either the New Democrats, a progressive party, or the separatist Quebec party Bloc Québécois to pass legislation.
FILE - Canada Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre appears at a federal election campaign event in Brampton, Ontario, March 24, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Liberal Leader Mark Carney arrives for a tour of Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on Friday, April 25, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick /The Canadian Press via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
