Connect with us

World

Trump’s threats against Canada boost Trudeau's Liberal Party in the polls as new tariffs set to begin

Published

on

Trump’s threats against Canada boost Trudeau's Liberal Party in the polls as new tariffs set to begin

OTTAWA, Canada — As new tariffs came into effect on Tuesday, analysts say that if Canada’s Liberal Party holds onto power, the party can thank President Donald Trump in part for such a reversal of political fortune.

Since Trump’s inauguration, Canada’s official opposition Conservative Party – once leading the governing Liberals by a wide margin – has seen their popularity in public-opinion polls gradually decline. 

An Ipsos poll released last week found that, for the first time since the Liberals won the last federal election in 2021, they’re ahead of the Conservatives by two points, with 38% popularity compared to the Conservatives at 36%. Six weeks earlier, the Conservatives were leading the Liberals by 26 points. A general election is expected to be called as early as this spring by Trudeau’s successor, who will be announced on Sunday.

Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, told Fox News Digital that he has never seen a party experience such a rapid and dramatic drop during his four-decade career in polling.

WHO IS PIERRE POILIEVRE? CANADA’S CONSERVATIVE LEADER SEEKING TO BECOME NEXT PRIME MINISTER AFTER TRUDEAU EXIT

Advertisement

Canada Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a news conference in a hotel ballroom in Ottawa on Dec. 1, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

He believes the Conservatives’ decline is attributable to two factors.

Justin Trudeau, whose personal popularity has plummeted since he became Canada’s 23rd prime minister in 2015, will step down as head of the Canadian government and Liberal Party on March 9; “And the threat from Trump to use economic force on Canada to bend us to his knee and possibly absorb us as a 51st state,” explained Bricker, about the president’s planned tariffs against Canada and his repeated references regarding annexation.

Throughout February, Nanos Research found the gap narrowing between the Liberals and Conservatives, who the month before were poised to form a “super-majority” government with as many as 240 members of Parliament (MPs) in an expanded 343-seat House of Commons that takes effect after the next general election.

“That’s completely out the window now,” said Nik Nanos, founder and chief data scientist of the Canadian polling firm, who also believes Trudeau’s imminent departure and Trump’s rhetoric against Canada have contributed to the Liberals’ bump in the polls.

Advertisement

The president “has effectively changed the ballot question from: Is it time for a change? – which was bad news for the Liberals – to who can best deal with Donald Trump, the new existential threat to the Canadian economy?” offered Nanos.

Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, officially announced his bid for the federal Liberal Party leadership in Edmonton, Canada, on Jan. 16, 2025. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

He explained that Canadian Conservative Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre and his party played a part in the Liberals’ boost by “showing they were a little out of touch” in focusing on the Liberal government’s tax on carbon emissions and vowing to remove it while Canadians became increasingly concerned about Trump’s threats. 

“In hindsight, when the Conservatives had a 27-point advantage in our polling, it didn’t have anything to do with Pierre Poilievre being strong or liked, or the Conservatives being brilliant strategists,” said Nanos. “It all had to do with dislike of Justin Trudeau and people wanting change and the Conservatives being the agent of change.”

According to the Ipsos poll, 86% percent of 1,000 respondents said that they want a general election “immediately” to have a federal government “with a strong mandate” to deal with Trump’s tariff threat. 

Advertisement

Bricker said the Liberals’ lead in the polls, particularly in Canada’s most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, over the Conservatives could even widen should Mark Carney, the former governor of the central banks of England and Canada and the frontrunner in the Liberal leadership race, succeed Trudeau as prime minister.

INFLUENTIAL LEADER OF CANADA’S ONTARIO PROVINCE SEEKS TRUMP, MUSK MEETING: US ‘NEEDS US LIKE WE NEED THEM’

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office on Feb. 25, 2025. (Pool)

Veteran Canadian pollster Angus Reid said the latest polling by his company found that 51% said Carney and the Liberals were best suited to improve relations with the U.S., including on tariffs, compared to 35% who chose the Conservatives under Poilievre, who is seen by many Canadians as holding a “Trump-light agenda.”

From south of the border, the president has “eroded Conservative support because it completely changed the political dynamic in Canada, completely changed what could be considered the most important ballot question that was all about getting rid of some of the baggage from the Trudeau era,” explained Reid, founder and chair of the Angus Reid Institute.

Advertisement

“Now it’s one of defending the sovereignty and economy of the country.”

Another Angus Reid poll found that with Carney as Liberal leader, his party is virtually tied at 44% with the Conservatives, at 45% on voting intention. In Quebec, a Carney-led Liberal Party enjoys 31% support compared to the Conservatives at 22%.

Guests display a giant Canadian flag before a flag-raising ceremony on Feb. 15, 2025, in Toronto. (Yu Ruidong/China News Service/VCG via AP)

Reid said the annexation and tariffs issue especially resonates with Quebecers more than any other region in Canada.

Carney’s further challenge for Poilievre is that the former “on paper, looks like a Conservative,” said Nanos.

Advertisement

“The guy worked in the banking sector and the private sector, like Goldman Sachs, and chaired, until recently, large enterprises like Bloomberg and Brookfield [Asset Management]. He walks and talks like a Conservative.”

Carney, an Oxford-educated economist who has never held elected office, is expected to call a snap election should he be chosen as Trudeau’s successor.

If the polling numbers continue to rise in favor of the Liberals, they could not only win the national vote in such a contest but form a majority government, added Reid. 

Currently, the Liberals have 153 MPs in the 338-seat House of Commons, which constitutes a minority government.

Advertisement

World

Stocks fall and oil prices gain after Trump warns the Iran ‘clock is ticking’

Published

on

Stocks fall and oil prices gain after Trump warns the Iran ‘clock is ticking’

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the “clock is ticking” as U.S.-Iran negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.

U.S. futures fell and markets in Japan and South Korea pulled further back from their records. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 60,815.95, a decline led by technology-related stocks. It reached all-time intraday high levels last week above 63,000.

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond surged to as high as 2.8%, its highest level since the late 1990s, part of a shift toward higher yields as the Bank of Japan gradually raises interest rates and higher energy costs raise expectations of rising inflation. That’s up from around 2.55% just one week ago.

Seoul’s Kospi climbed 0.3% to 7,516.04 after trading lower earlier in the day. It crossed the 8,000 mark for the first time on Friday, supported by buying of technology shares driven by the boom in artificial intelligence, but later declined partly on profit-taking by investors.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.4% to 25,596.68. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 4,131.53, after China reported weaker-than-expected retail data for April.

Advertisement

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.5% to 8,505.30.

Taiwan’s Taiex dropped 0.7%, while India’s Sensex fell 0.1%.

Oil prices rose after Trump warned Iran in a social media post that “the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them” following a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump has set deadlines for Iran and then backed off, so investors have remained cautious about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and how it is impacting global energy flows, including oil and gas. The strait is still mostly closed, and the U.S. has also imposed its own sea blockade on Iranian ports since last month.

A drone strike over the weekend on a United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant added to worries over a potential escalation in the conflict.

Advertisement

Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.7% to $110.02 per barrel. It was trading at roughly $70 a barrel in late February before the start of the Iran war. Benchmark U.S. crude was trading 0.8% higher to $106.31 per barrel.

“Re-escalation risks are increasing,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a research note. While there has also been a pick up on shipping activities over the past week around the strait, they said, “this can change quickly.”

The pair also noted that the oil market was reacting to the lack of tangible results on the Iran war after last week’s widely-watched summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, even as the White House said both the U.S. and China had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.

U.S. officials had hoped that Beijing could use its influence, given its economic ties with Iran, to help broker a peace agreement and reopen the strait. Trump said last week in an interview that Xi told him China “would like to be of help” in negotiating an end to the war. So far it’s been unclear how Beijing might do that.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury was at around 4.60%, up from 4.47% last Thursday and sharply higher than the nearly 4% level it was holding at before the Iran war.

Advertisement

On Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 1.2% from the record it set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.5%.

In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.86 Japanese yen from 158.62 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1635, up from $1.1622.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

World

Canada confirms hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak that has killed three passengers

Published

on

Canada confirms hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak that has killed three passengers

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Canadian health officials on Sunday confirmed that one of four Canadians who returned from the MV Hondius cruise ship, the subject of an international Andes hantavirus outbreak, tested positive for hantavirus. Three people connected to the outbreak have died.

Advertisement

The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the positive test after British Columbia’s top public health officer previously described the case as a “presumptive positive.”

“One individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus,” the agency said in a statement.

Officials said additional testing will be conducted at a national laboratory. It was not immediately clear whether that testing was for confirmation, strain characterization or another purpose.

CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER DESCRIBES UNCERTAINTY AFTER 3 DEATHS AMID HANTAVIRUS PROBE

Experts say cruise outbreaks get more attention due to public reporting rules, but many travelers still plan to sail as booked. (Myloupe/Universal Images Group)

Advertisement

The development comes as global health officials continue monitoring the rare hantavirus outbreak tied to the MV Hondius, which has sickened multiple passengers.

As of May 13, the World Health Organization said 11 cases had been identified in connection with the cruise outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case. Those figures included three deaths. The Associated Press later reported that the Canadian confirmation brought the number of people from the ship who had tested positive to 10.

Canadian health officials said four Canadians returned home from the MV Hondius, though only one has tested positive for the virus.

RARE HANTAVIRUS HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION SUSPECTED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP WHERE 3 HAVE DIED

The rare Andes virus, which was linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known hantavirus strain that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact. (Andres Gutierrez/Anadolu)

Advertisement

The confirmed patient and a traveling companion — identified as a Yukon couple in their 70s — returned from the cruise together. The companion later tested negative, officials said.

A third person in their 70s from Vancouver Island remains in isolation, along with a British Columbia resident in their 50s.

So far, no confirmed U.S. cases tied to the cruise ship have been reported, though WHO said as of May 13 that one U.S.-repatriated passenger had inconclusive laboratory results and was undergoing retesting.

HANTAVIRUS DEATHS ON CRUISE SHIP HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF RODENT-BORNE DISEASE

Pictured is the MV Hondius, the cruise ship tied to a hantavirus outbreak after a stop in Argentina that left three passengers dead. (Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images)

Advertisement

Last week, however, health officials in Ontario County, New York, announced they were investigating a suspected locally acquired hantavirus case unrelated to the cruise ship.

The Ontario County Public Health Department said there was no risk to the general public. Officials also said the strain typically seen in the United States is not known to spread from person to person.

The outbreak linked to the MV Hondius began after the Dutch cruise ship, carrying 147 passengers and crew members, departed Argentina on April 1 for a South Atlantic voyage.

TRAPPED CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER SHARES UPDATE ON CLEANLINESS OF SHIP AMID DEADLY HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK

The outbreak has prompted heightened precautions internationally, including in the Netherlands, where Radboud University Medical Center quarantined 12 staff members after officials said a hantavirus patient’s blood and urine were not handled under the strictest protocols recommended for the virus strain.

Advertisement

The outbreak has also sparked comparisons to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital there is “no comparison.”

He noted hantavirus is difficult to spread.

Passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken Hondius cruise ship walk with their belongings after disembarking at Eindhoven Air Base, Netherlands, on May 12. (Piroschka van de Wouw)

“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”

While coronavirus “moved in the direction of humans in a significant way,” hantavirus has not, except for “very rare” cases of human-to-human transmission, he added.

Advertisement

The World Health Organization has assessed the risk to the global population as low, while noting that current evidence suggests subsequent human-to-human transmission may have occurred on board. Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to have documented person-to-person transmission, though such spread is considered rare.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Siegel also noted hantavirus cases have been reported in the United States for decades, though they remain “very rare.”

Fox News Digital’s Brittany Miller and Angelica Stabile, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

World

Moment of collision between two Navy jets at Idaho air show

Published

on

Moment of collision between two Navy jets at Idaho air show
NewsFeed

Two US Navy jets collided during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, sending both aircraft crashing to the ground in front of spectators. All four crew members ejected safely before impact.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending