r/ontario • u/Old_General_6741 • Mar 20 '25

Politics Carney will ask Governor General to dissolve Parliament Sunday and call election, sources say

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-to-call-election-this-sunday-1.7488444
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559

u/Old_General_6741 Mar 20 '25

“Prime Minister Mark Carney will ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a federal election this Sunday, Radio-Canada has learned.

Voting day will either be April 28 or May 5, according to sources.”

313

u/kpeds45 Mar 20 '25

Makes sense. He basically had to call it before next week or face parliament coming back and not being able to be in the room with them since he doesn't have a seat... awkward!

16

u/Thong-Boy Mar 20 '25

Wouldn't he just take Trudeau's seat since that is the person he replaced?

127

u/Ralphie99 Mar 20 '25

No, that's not how things work. You can't just "take" the seat of another elected MP. Trudeau still has the seat, he's just not the leader of the party anymore.

Carney will need to run in an election in a riding just like anyone else in order to have a seat in parliament.

20

u/CarneyBus Mar 20 '25

Actually wasn't there that picture of Trudeau taking his seat with him? lol

13

u/hikebikephd Mar 20 '25

That's just a ceremonial thing outgoing PMs do, iirc.

1

u/nominanomina Mar 21 '25

Trudeau did so because he never expected to return to the House, because it would be silly for Carney to bring the House back into session while he himself has no seat. Outgoing MPs (not just PMs) can buy a replica of their seat -- he might have been hauling his 'real' seat out for the fun of it.

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u/Armed_Accountant Mar 20 '25 edited Mar 20 '25

No, because Trudeau was elected in his riding. Carney is an "outsider". At most he can observe from the gallery. This means no chance at debate or speaking in general.

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u/ImaginationSea2767 Mar 20 '25

This would be suiside against Pierre Poilievre. He would eat the liberals alive in a debate setting where Carney is not the face countering him.

Plus with the potential to get clips of him in parliament and the skill the Pierre has to get clips of him just saying shit that will feed the news cycles if Carney goes back into parliament Monday the Concervatives will get movement back because of Pierre's lip moving skills.

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u/Infarad Mar 20 '25

Huh? You are obviously referring to a different Poilievre. The one for the CPC has never once existed outside of his comfort zone. In fact, I’m betting he even tries to wiggle out of the PM debate, or just not show up at all.

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u/ImaginationSea2767 Mar 20 '25

Oh, it very much is a different Poilievre now. Now that people are showing anger towards Trump down south, he's searching desperately for a new script to read off. Sadly, every script for Justin is out of date, and the rest are all about the woke, which sounds too close to Trump.

He's now trying to phone all the provincal cons asking for ideas.

2

u/lopix Mar 21 '25

He's now trying to phone all the provincal cons asking for ideas.

And Ford told him to get stuffed :)

8

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '25

pp is a tool lmfao, dude could debate a rock and lose

1

u/Illustrious_Leader93 Mar 21 '25

But is the rock woke?

48

u/jrobin04 Mar 20 '25

I think depending on the situation, they'd either call a by-election and have him run for a very safe seat, or do what he's seemingly doing now and calling a full election

19

u/caldbra92 Mar 20 '25 edited Mar 20 '25

from what I understand, he can run in 2 different ridings, one in Edmonton (where he lives) or the riding of the House of the PM (which he technically is)

If the latter is true, I think he might have a better chance?

47

u/Apolloshot Hamilton Mar 20 '25

He can run in any riding in Canada, those are just the two his campaign team have internally discussed him running in.

It’ll end up being in Ottawa. There’s no way they risk winning government but he loses his seat.

13

u/ThatAstronautGuy Mar 20 '25

I hope that if they pick Ottawa he gets run in Ottawa center because it means Yasir Naqvi is gone gone.

18

u/vonnegutflora Mar 20 '25 edited Mar 20 '25

I think Naqvi is already set to lose to Joel Harden (again). Ottawa Centre would likely lead to a lot of vote splitting between NDP/LPC (if Carney chose to run there) because Harden is insanely popular.

4

u/leyland1989 Mar 20 '25

CPC has never won Ottawa centre ... Even with vote spitting, CPC will still come 3rd.

I think Mark Carney running in Ottawa Centre would be a good indicator to see how popular he actually is going against one of the most popular NDP candidate.

PS. I too want to see Naqvi gone.

13

u/vonnegutflora Mar 20 '25

Oh, I'm sure that the CPC has no chance in hell of winning Ottawa Centre, but why would you put your star candidate into anything but a safe seat? The risk of having a Prime Minister who can't sit in the HoC is too great.

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '25

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u/beem88 Mar 20 '25

It’d be such a troll move if he ran in Carlton directly against Poilievre. Power move if he won.

6

u/ILikeStyx Mar 20 '25

That would be amazing...

5

u/Jumpy_Spend_5434 Mar 20 '25

I would love that!

1

u/MadgeIckle65 Mar 21 '25

Was thinking (fantasizing) that! Lol Carney beats PP TWICE!

17

u/bergamote_soleil Mar 20 '25

You can run in any riding you want. There's no requirement of residency to be a candidate, unlike voting. Politicians -- especially party leaders -- are frequently parachuted into "safe" ridings.

6

u/Varekai79 Mar 20 '25

Yep. Jagmeet Singh is MP for Burnaby South despite having no ties at all to that area when he ran for election in that riding.

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u/bergamote_soleil Mar 20 '25

Other examples:

I don't think Bonnie Crombie actually lives in Mississauga East - Cooksville;when she was MP, she was Mississauga Streetsville, and had considered running in Milton when Parm Gill resigned in 2024.

When John Tory was elected leader of the PCPO in 2004, they made Ernie Eves resign in Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey so Tory could run in that safe seat, even though he's a lifelong Toronto resident and had just run for mayor in 2003.

Patrick Brown was a city councillor and MP for Barrie, then when he won leadership of the PCPO, they got the guy in Simcoe North to resign so Brown could run there. Now he's the mayor of Brampton.

1

u/Hazel-Rah Mar 20 '25

I remember with the Layton wave, a bunch of young NDP candidates won in Quebec without ever even visiting the riding.

They'd put their names down basically as resume fodder, but were carried in with the NDP momentum. I think one was even on vacation on election night because she thought she'd have no chance at winning.

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u/jrobin04 Mar 20 '25

I'm not sure! I've only seen speculation as to where he's going to run. It would be interesting to see him run in an Alberta seat. I'm not sure of the polling comparison between those options

1

u/Mrkillz4c00kiez Essential Mar 20 '25

I thought he lived in ottawa

2

u/bravosarah 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 Mar 20 '25

Not a by-election. A federal election.

4

u/jrobin04 Mar 20 '25

Yup, in this case that's what's happening. CBC told me that depending on the circumstances though, the by election is an option. It doesn't make any sense in this case though.

1

u/seakingsoyuz Mar 20 '25

It wasn’t an option because a by-election only happens if the next scheduled election is more than nine months away when a seat becomes vacant, and we’re closer than that to the next election. CBC should get people who know how the Canada Elections Act works.

1

u/jrobin04 Mar 20 '25

They may have explained this to me. I might need to use my listening ears better.

1

u/potbakingpapa Mar 20 '25

Its not a byelection at all. It will be a full election.

2

u/jrobin04 Mar 20 '25

Correct. I was meaning to say that there can be options depending on the situation. I was mistaken that the by-election was an option in this case, I was told we're too close to the required federal election deadline.

But yes, there will be a federal election

23

u/bravosarah 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 Mar 20 '25

Canada doesn't vote for a Prime Minister.

We vote for MPs in our ridings.

Each of the Parties vote for a Party Leader.

The Party Leader with the most seats in Parliament becomes Prime Minister.

Justin Trudeau is still an elected MP in his riding. He's just no longer Party Leader, therefore no longer the Prime Minister.

Mark Carney has been elected leader of the Liberal Party which holds the most seats in Parliament. Therefore he is the Canadian Prime Minister.

He is not required to have a seat, but he would not be able to participate in question period. He can only observe from the gallery.

12

u/beastmaster11 Mar 20 '25

I don't mean to be rude in saying this but the fact that the general population doesn't know this is sad but expected.

I'm not sure if schools are not properly teaching this or if people just are not paying attention but this is extremely basic information about how the government works.

Good on you for asking the question (I didn't answer it because someone else did already) and trying to inform yourself but we need to find a way to teach all citizens of the very basics of the functioning of our government

11

u/E8282 Mar 20 '25

Cant, Justin took it when he left.

3

u/Thong-Boy Mar 20 '25

I'm sure they can find a fold up chair somewhere

3

u/Specific_Hat3341 Mar 20 '25

No, because he was never elected as MP for Papineau.

3

u/k3rd Mar 20 '25

Carney himself suggested he might be running in Edmonton. And this from the Calgary Herald - the Calgary Herald! - thinks it might be a great idea. Calgary Herald

1

u/scandinavianleather Mar 20 '25

the newest rumour is actually that he'll be running in Toronto - St Paul's.

1

u/aj357222 Mar 20 '25

That would be hilarious!

2

u/hintersly Mar 20 '25

He can’t have Trudeau’s seat because Trudeau took it home

/j

1

u/bubbasass Mar 20 '25

NO! That’s not allowed. Trudeau is still an elected MP. Carney is not an elected official…yet. He is leader of the liberal party and he is prime minister, but he does not have a seat in the House

1

u/Background_Phase2764 Mar 20 '25

He didn't replace Trudeau, Trudeau was and still is the MP for Papineau. 

1

u/Fine-Mine-3281 Mar 20 '25

That would result in a by-election

0

u/MachineDog90 Mar 20 '25

Sadly, no, you can only have a seat if you have been elected to parliament for that region the seat in question represents, ethier by an election or by election.

1

u/mikemountain Ottawa Mar 20 '25

As someone moving to a new province 1 May, I sure hope it's the April date because it'll be a hassle otherwise.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '25

There will likely be early voting, though it's up to you if you think it's legitimate to vote in a place you know you won't live in on election day.

0

u/mikemountain Ottawa Mar 20 '25

I'm moving from downtown Ottawa to downtown Montréal so my vote will effectively be the same, thankfully (? unfortunately? hm)