Canada’s 2025 federal election, explained
Ready to vote? Canada’s 45th federal election will take place on April 28, 2025. You can email your election questions to ask@cbc.ca.
The Latest
We’ve now heard from the leaders of all the major parties on the first day of the campaign.Liberal Leader Mark Carney revealed he would introduce a middle-class tax cut that could affect up to 22 million Canadians.“Negativity won’t win a trade war,” he said in a shot at Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre during his first speech.Speaking earlier in Quebec, Poilievre unveiled his “Canada First, For a Change,” campaign slogan.Poilievre said a “lost Liberal decade” has left Canada weak and vulnerable on the world stage.NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh went after Carney in his first address of the race.Singh said Carney has spent his career serving the rich and that he can’t be trusted to work for everyday Canadians.Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet urged voters to give the Bloc the balance of power in a potential minority government.Updates
March 23
8 minutes ago
Alberta premier’s ‘Let’s put things on pause’ comments draw campaign questions
Sam Samson
Smith, left, Trump and investor Kevin O’Leary on a recent visit to Mar-a-Lago. (Danielle Smith/X)If you’re hearing comments from Carney and Poilievre talking about Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, here’s why.
Earlier this month, she went on the right-leaning U.S. media outlet Breitbart News Network to chat all things politics. The interview was posted on March 8. Smith was asked: “Are the Canadian people ready to go back the other way here, and go away from the Liberal side under Trudeau and whoever replaces him?”
This was the first part of Smith’s answer: “Before the tariff war, I would say yes. I mean, Pierre Poilievre is the name of the Conservative Party leader, and he was miles ahead of Justin Trudeau. But because of what we see as unjust and unfair tariffs, it’s actually caused an increase in the support for the Liberals. And so that’s what I fear, is that the longer this dispute goes on, politicians posture, and it seems to be benefiting the Liberals right now.
“So I would hope that we could put things on pause, is what I’ve told administration officials. Let’s just put things on pause so we can get through an election. Let’s have the best person at the table make the argument for how they would deal with it — and I think that’s Pierre Poilievre.”
CBC News has reached out to Smith’s office to clarify the comments.
13 minutes ago
NDP heads into election in tough spot
Darren Major
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks in Ottawa on March 22, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)The NDP and Singh could be in for their toughest election battle in recent memory.
Recent polling suggests the New Democrats’ popularity has fallen to its lowest level in decades. Our Poll Tracker suggests that the party could lose several seats, and if that bears out on voting day, it would mean the NDP would have lost MPs in every election Singh has helmed.
Singh has been dismissive of the polls in recent weeks and was so again on Sunday.
“I’m very familiar and comfortable being [an] underdog. I think a lot of Canadians can relate to that,” he told reporters at his campaign launch.
“I know that folks like Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney would want nothing better than for New Democrats to disappear … but news to them: we’re not going anywhere.”
Our colleagues Marina von Stackelberg and David Thurton have written about the tough spot the NDP is in, and you can read more here.
18 minutes ago
Liberals haven’t had time to brand their plane
Ashley Burke
The Liberal plane on the tarmac in Ottawa. (Ashley Burke/CBC)The Liberal plane isn’t wrapped with its logo yet. The campaign says the plane will be fitted next weekend with the Liberals’ branding.
20 minutes ago
Blanchet on ‘the big question’ of Quebec sovereignty
Jenna Benchetrit
Asked about his party’s stance on Quebec sovereignty, Blanchet said that “no one doubts independence for Quebec.”
“But if you think that the Bloc is going to organize a referendum on that — well, the fact is that as people who support independence, we have a chance to ensure that the economic system is something that works for us,” said Blanchet.
He added that some members of the Bloc Québécois will help the Parti Québécois, a provincial party that advocates for Quebec’s separation from Canada, elect sovereigntists during its own provincial election.
“Once there are sovereigntists in Quebec, I imagine that [Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon] will be establishing his strategy, and we will support it,” he said.
“When the big question comes up, they’ll be saying, we’re going to trust those people. So our job is to ensure there is that confidence.”
29 minutes ago
Has Donald Trump ‘endorsed’ Mark Carney?
Michael Woods
Let’s talk about this claim that Singh made in his launch speech today.
“Donald Trump has come out and endorsed Mark Carney. Elon Musk has endorsed Pierre Poilievre,” he said. “I’m the only federal candidate that is 100 per cent not endorsed by the Donald Trump administration.”
This stems from Trump’s comments in a Fox News interview on Tuesday saying he wouldn’t mind if the Liberal Party won the upcoming election.
“I don’t care,” Trump responded. “I think it’s easier to deal, actually, with a liberal and maybe they’re going to win, but I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter to me at all.”
On Friday, Trump took credit for the Liberals’ reversal of fortunes and echoed his earlier thought.
“Just a little while ago, before I got involved and totally changed the election — which I don’t care about … the Conservative was leading,” Trump said.
“I don’t care who wins up there. I, frankly, probably would do better with the Liberal than with the Conservative, if you want to know the truth.”
The Conservatives — and now Singh — say that constitutes an endorsement of Carney.
It is true that Musk has endorsed Poilievre. In December, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted on X saying Poilievre “should be Canada’s next leader. The sooner the better.”
Musk responded with a 100 emoji.
32 minutes ago
A battleground in Quebec
Jenna Benchetrit
Asked about whether the Liberals are eating up votes in the Bloc’s home territory, Blanchet said, “The Liberals cannot take votes from the Bloc because the Bloc belongs to no one. Votes belong to the voters.”
He said there’s a sense within his party that the Liberals have “a desire to use people’s insecurity” around U.S. intimidation to introduce Carney, who he characterized as an untested and unknown leader. “You don’t know who he is, but it’s going to be fine,” said Blanchet.
The Bloc leader said part of his job is forcing Carney and Poilievre to reveal their platforms so that Canadians can make an informed decision at the ballot box.
“Quebec has seen people use fear before. So no, I’m not worried about that argument. And generally, we bring forward reason in the presence of fear,” said Blanchet.
40 minutes ago
How are things playing out in Quebec?
Verity Stevenson
The tariffs imposed by Trump have reshaped the political landscape in Quebec, where the Liberals have vaulted ahead of the Bloc Québécois and Conservatives.
Since 2019, when YBlanchet became leader of the Bloc Québécois, the pro-independence party has won more than 30 per cent of the popular vote in federal elections in Quebec. Now, CBC’s poll tracker shows Carney leading with nearly 36 per cent.
Support for the Conservatives in Quebec — who had hoped to gain ground there this election — has also decreased in recent months.
The shift could be explained by the province’s heavy reliance on trade with the U.S., with about 70 per cent of exports destined for the southern border. A huge chunk of that is made up of metals exports. Of all aluminum produced in North America, 75 per cent comes from Quebec, prompting Premier François Legault to call the 25 per cent aluminum and steel tariffs “ridiculous.”
Other big industries, such as forestry, aviation and manufacturing, are also at risk, so tariffs and the prospect of more to come are already hitting hard. Legault has said the province could lose up to 160,000 jobs as a result.
43 minutes ago
Bloc slogan: ‘I choose Quebec’
Raffy Boudjikanian
The Bloc Québécois kicked off their campaign at Montreal restaurant Le Molière. ( Raffy Boudjikanian/CBC)Blanchet’s podium at the chic restaurant in downtown Montreal called Le Molière displays what appears to be the party’s slogan for this campaign, which is Blanchet’s third as leader: “Je choisis le Québec” (I choose Quebec).
46 minutes ago
Leader profile: Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc Québécois
Andrew Davidson
Blanchet speaks at the Bloc Québécois’s caucus in Laval, Que., on Jan. 22, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)Blanchet, 59, is leading the sovereigntist party into a third election after taking the reins in 2019 and tripling its seat count from 10 to 32 MPs in the House of Commons in his first campaign.
The Bloc emerged from the 2021 election with its position in the House unchanged.
The former provincial cabinet minister and television pundit is a staple on Quebec and national airwaves, but is starting the 2025 campaign with Mark Carney’s Liberals high in the polls in the battleground province.
Blanchet will likely press his untested rival at every opportunity on Quebec-focused issues such as provincial autonomy, as well as the province’s secularism and language laws, which played a key role in the last election.
56 minutes ago
The race is on — to the campaign bus
Ashley Burke
The Liberals’ campaign bus parked outside Rideau Hall. (Ashley Burke/CBC)Reporters at Rideau Hall, including from CBC News, raced from their live TV positions after Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s speech ended to board the Liberals’ campaign bus.
The bus was parked outside the gates at Rideau Hall and is now full of journalists and staff en route to the airport to fly to Newfoundland and Labrador.
Carney is headed to St. John’s for a rally in the only province he didn’t visit during his leadership campaign.
