Handling Trump will be a key issue for voterspublished at 23:57 British Summer Time 17 April

23:57 BST 17 April

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Image source, EPA

Canada and the US share deeply integrated economies, a long-standing security partnership and the longest "undefended" border in the world.

So when President Donald Trump says he wants to use "economic force" against America's northern neighbour, calls the border an "artificially drawn line" and imposes steep tariffs, it marks a profound shift in the relationship between the two allies.

Trump's interventions have already reshaped politics in Canada, helping transform what seemed like a certain Conservative victory into a too-close-to-call battle with the Liberals.

And as campaigning began, all the party leaders focused their launch messages heavily on the US threats.

Trump has made his views on the election known, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham on 18 March that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is "stupidly, no friend of mine" and that it may be "easier to deal actually with a Liberal".

Ultimately, he added, who wins "doesn't matter to me at all".

There are two key parties to watch in this election: the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party.

They are locked in a tight race as they head towards the final week of campaigning. The Liberals have held power since 2015, when Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister.

The Conservatives have been the official opposition since then. This is nothing new.

Historically, Canada has been governed by one of the two parties, though at least three others - the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party - will likely pick up seats across the country.

We’re unlikely to see many surprises in this election. Polls from early April show the Liberals have taken a slight lead - but it remains an extremely tight race between the two main contenders.

The Leaders’ Debates Commission has released the list of topics that the federal leaders will discuss. There is a lot of overlap: the cost of living, energy and climate, and the US trade war all be at issue in both the English- and French-language debates.

But there are a couple of differences. In Wednesday’s French-language debate, identity and sovereignty as well as immigration and foreign affairs were on the table.

French-speaking Canadians, who are mostly located in Quebec, have a strong interest in what the US president’s musings about Canada becoming a 51st state would mean for their unique place in the country.

Quebec has also seen the biggest spikes out of all the provinces in the last few years of asylum seekers crossing into the country from the US - and there are concerns of another major uptick due to the crackdown on migrants south of the border.

Tonight, the topics also include “leading in a crisis”, and public safety and security.

Absent from the debate stage on both nights will be the Green Party.

In a last-minute decision by the debate commission this week, the party was disqualified for failing to meet the criteria by not endorsing candidates in at least 90% of Canada's federal ridings, or constituencies.

The party, which had two MPs in parliament when the election was called, also failed to meet the threshold of at least 4% in national support.

Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault, who was the leader tapped to be on the debate stage, called the commission's decision "baseless" and "undemocratic".

The Green Party's electoral highwater mark was in 2019, when it won three seats and earned 6.5% of the popular vote.

The party is now polling at around 2.5% in national surveys.

The Bloc Québécois is a Quebec nationalist party that only runs candidates in the French-speaking province, meaning leader Yves-François Blanchet will not become Canada's next prime minister.

But the party is a key player in Canadian elections, and their popularity in Quebec could determine the fate of the other major parties looking to form government.

Blanchet has led the party since 2019. He is known for his frankness, calling Trump's "51st state" rhetoric nonsense.

"It's... jibber-jabber," Blanchet said during an address on Trump's tariffs earlier this month in Montreal.

On domestic issues, Blanchet has pushed for Quebec to diversify its trade partners, and has asked for a prominent seat at Canada's economic planning table, noting that his province is home to the largest aluminium sector in the country - a commodity that has been targeted by US tariffs.

Image source, Reuters

Journalist Steve Paikin will be the moderator for the debate tonight.

The 64-year-old has primarily spent his career at Ontario’s public broadcaster TVOntario, and has been hosting the current affairs programme The Agenda with Steve Paikin for nearly 20 years.

His role as moderator will be no surprise to Canadians who have followed recent elections. Paikin has moderated many debates for both federal and provincial party leaders, most recently during the 2022 federal election.

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Carney, 60, is the incumbent prime minister of Canada - but he has only been in the job for a month.

He replaced Justin Trudeau after the former prime minister resigned in January. Carney won more than 85% of Liberal Party members’ vote to assume the role.

For many in Canada and the UK, Carney will be a familiar face. He was previously the governor of both the Banks of Canada and England, serving at the former during the 2008 financial crash and the latter during Brexit.

Image source, Reuters

He is the first prime minister from the north, hailing from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He attended Harvard University and then Oxford, where he studied economics.

Carney is hailed for his financial expertise. He has also taken a defiant stance against US President Donald Trump, vowing that Canada will never become the 51st US state.

But Carney is politically untested. He has never been elected to public office in Canada, and this general election will be his very first.

Additionally, his French skills are weak, which could be a liability among voters who feel strongly about preserving Canada's French-speaking heritage.

We're watching a live feed of the leaders arriving to the debate. Each has arrived in a bus decked out in the colours of their parties.

Last night for the French-language debate they were all greeted by pro-Palestinian protesters - now it's all fans holding party signs.

The candidates smiled and waved before heading inside.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, hails from Calgary, Alberta.

He was born to a 16-year-old mother before he was adopted by two school teachers who raised him in suburban Calgary.

The 45-year-old has been in politics for almost two decades and was first elected to the House of Commons at age 25. This made him the youngest MP at the time.

Image source, Reuters

His big win came in 2022, when he secured a landslide victory in a race to become the leader of the Conservative party. The position was secured with 70.7% of the vote share. He has consistently advocated for a low-tax, small government in Canada.

He is known for his confrontational style of politics. In recent years, Poilievre has tirelessly attacked the Liberals and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying that their "disastrous" and "woke" policies have worsened the quality of life in Canada, while promising a return to "common sense politics" if his party were to form government.

Image source, Reuters

Today's debate is not the first showdown between the leaders of Canada's major parties during this election campaign.

Just yesterday, the four leaders went head-to-head in a televised French-language debate in Montreal in the seat-rich province of Quebec. Here are some key takeaways:

Trump and tariffs

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre accused the Liberals of making Canada more vulnerable to trade threats, while Liberal leader Mark Carney touted his experience as a former central banker, saying: "[Trump] respects people who understand the world.” Meanwhile, Jagmeet Singh from the New Democratic Party (NDP) said both are the wrong option for those whose jobs may be affected by tariffs.

Justin Trudeau’s legacy

Leaders tried to tie Carney to former PM Trudeau’s record. Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said "We are still talking about the same party”. Carney responded by saying he had accomplishments despite only being sworn in as PM last month.

Housing crisis and climate change

Poilievre vowed to cut taxes and red tape that he says act as a barrier to home building. He and Carney found common ground on energy issues, saying the country should ramp up its oil and gas production.

• Find out more about what the four leaders said during the debate

Jagmeet Singh, 46, is leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), a left-leaning party that traditionally focuses on worker and labour issues.

He made history in 2017 when he became the first ethnic minority and practising Sikh to lead a major political party in Canada. In 2019, the former criminal defence lawyer was elected as an MP in the western province of British Columbia.

Image source, Reuters

The NDP helped the Trudeau Liberal government keep its hold on power beginning in 2021, providing needed votes in Parliament in exchange for support on progressive legislation like dental benefits for lower-income families and a national pharmacare programme covering birth control and insulin.

But in late 2024, Singh tore up that "supply and confidence" agreement, after Trudeau's cabinet directed its industrial relations board to impose binding arbitration to end a work stoppage at Canada's two largest railways.

At the time, Singh had said that the Liberals "let people down" and didn't "deserve another chance from Canadians".

This election could come down to political experiencepublished at 23:24 British Summer Time 17 April

23:24 BST 17 April

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Canadians know their next PM will have no choice but to deal with Donald Trump. So the question on many voters' minds is: who can most capably handle the unpredictable US president?

The contest essentially boils down to the new Liberal leader Mark Carney and the Conservative’s Pierre Poilievre, who has led the Conservatives since 2022.

Carney, 60, brings experience on the world stage - he governed the Bank of England from 2013-2020 - but lacks time spent in the cut and thrust of political campaigning, and will get his first real test in this general election.

At 45, Poilievre may be significantly younger, but he is a political veteran. First elected to the House of Commons at age 25, he has two decades of experience in federal politics, including time in cabinet, and is known for his political acumen.

When Trudeau resigned at the beginning of 2025, he did so under significant pressure from his own party. It was felt that his personal unpopularity was damaging the Liberals' hopes of winning the next election.

National polling averages, shared by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, external , external(CBC), external, show that support for the Liberals weakened throughout 2023 and 2024.

At the same time, support for the Conservatives soared. On 20 January 2025 - the day of Trump's inauguration - the Conservatives were polling at 44.8% while the Liberals were on 21.9%. But Trump’s tariff threat has massively tipped the scales.

Polls now suggest that support for the Liberals has ticked back up.

The latest averages indicate that more than 40% of Canadians back the Liberals, while just under 40% support the Conservatives, meaning what appeared to be a certain victory for Poilievre has turned into a nail-biting race.

You might recall that Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s prime minister a little over a month ago. Legally, an election wasn’t required before October this year.

So why is Canada heading to the polls so soon? Carney decided to call a snap general election.

Several leaders had been calling for a vote after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January.

Then came US President Trump’s tariffs, which made calls for a general election louder.

Carney asked the country’s governor general - who serves as the representative of the British crown in Canada - to call an election ahead of schedule.

Image source, Getty Images

We are now just over a week away from the election on 28 April. In the Canadian federal election - as in the UK's general election - voters do not cast a ballot directly for a prime minister.

Instead, the leader of the party with the most members of parliament (MPs) becomes PM.

There are 343 federal ridings - also called constituencies or electoral districts - across the country. Each has a corresponding seat in the House of Commons.

All the seats in the lower chamber, the House of Commons, are up for grabs during an election.

The candidate who gets the most votes in each riding wins that seat and become an MP.

The leader of the party with the largest number of elected MPs normally forms the government, though coalition governments are also possible. The second-placed party usually forms the official opposition.

Jenna Moon
Live editor

There’s a uniquely consequential general election underway in Canada - and the first of my career that I’m covering from outside my hometown of Toronto.

Despite the distance, I’ll still be watching closely as four of the country’s six major federal party leaders go head-to-head on the debate stage less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.

How the leaders do - and how Canadians perceive their performances - could swing the scales in what now appears to be a toss-up election.

A few weeks ago, the outcome of this election seemed like a sure-thing. Conservative Party head Pierre Poilievre was widely viewed as the favourite to win following years of dwindling popularity for the Liberal Party following nearly a decade of Justin Trudeau’s premiership.

But US President Donald Trump has turned the apparent inevitability of a Prime Minister Poilievre on its head. Mark Carney, the newly elected Liberal leader and current prime minister, could eke out a victory.

The debate tonight will focus heavily on how the parties will react to the trade crisis created by tariffs imposed by Canada’s closest neighbour.

How the leaders respond tonight could make all the difference for Canadians worried about the massive impact of tariffs and eager for a prime minister who’s prepared for a face off with Trump, who has also threatened to make Canada the US’s “51st state”.

We’ll be covering all the key moments right here. Stick with us.