Carney confirms Trump raised ’51st state’ in call

The Front Bench Panel talks about the significance of U.S. President Donald Trump and the concept of change in the second half of the campaign.

With the 2025 election campaign in its final stretch, the main party leaders kept busy Thursday – each hopping between provinces to deliver some of their final pitches to voters.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney began Day 33 of the campaign in B.C., where he addressed recent trade war comments from Donald Trump and confirmed the U.S. president raised the idea of Canada becoming the “51st state” when they spoke weeks ago.

He then flew to Manitoba for a rally in Winnipeg.

Pierre Poilievre held a news conference in Halifax, where the Conservative leader vowed to eliminate Canada’s electric vehicle sales mandates if elected, before heading to a rally in Saskatchewan.

Speaking at his own event in Winnipeg on Thursday morning, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh painted rival Carney as “not someone who’s a progressive,” responding to a new Liberal ad. He then flew to Toronto for another campaign stop.

Here’s a recap of Day 33 of the campaign. All times EDT.

Advance vote counting to start early due to high turnout

Given the enormous number advance ballots cast in Canada’s 2025 election, counting of those votes will begin earlier than usual, officials have confirmed.

Normally, advance ballots are counted one hour before polls close. This year, that count will begin two hours early for most ridings.

Canada’s chief electoral officer approved the new schedule after a record 7.3 million people voted early this year. That’s up 24 per cent from the advance turnout in 2021.

For Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s riding of Carleton – which had 90 candidates on the ballot – advance counting will begin six hours before polls close.

Andrew Weichel, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist

Former Liberal candidate given cease and desist over signs

The Liberal Party has sent a cease and desist letter to a former candidate running in the Edmonton-Gateway riding over his campaign signs.

The party has expressed concerns that Rod Loyola’s red signs – which appear to be Liberal signs with the branding covered up – could create confusion among voters.

Loyola is running as an Independent after being dropped by the Liberals, who replaced him with Jeremy Hoefsloot early this month.

In a phone call with CTV News Edmonton, Loyola insisted there was no issue, saying, “The Liberal Party does not own the colour red.”

Karyn Mulcahy, CTV News Edmonton digital journalist

Greens going to court over ‘unfair’ exclusion from debates

The Green Party is launching a court challenge over the last-minute decision to exclude Jonathan Pedneault from last week’s two leaders’ debates.

The Greens are asking Canada’s Federal Court to declare the decision to disinvite the co-leader a violation of procedural fairness.

When announcing Pedneault’s removal, the Leaders’ Debates Commission said the Greens had failed to meet two of three conditions for participation.

Read the full story.

1 p.m.: Carney confirms Trump raised 51st state idea in their call

Liberal Leader Mark Carney confirmed Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump raised the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state when they spoke on March 28.

“I said that he did,” Carney said following repeated questions from reporters about whether Trump had floated the idea in their call.

“Him raising something, and then where the discussion is – he has these things in his mind. This is not news. He raises it all the time, okay?”

Following their conversation in March, Carney said that Trump had respected Canada’s sovereignty in referring to him as prime minister, in contrast to the disrespectful way the U.S. president addressed his predecessor.

Radio-Canada first reported this week, based on information from sources, that Trump had indeed raised the idea of Canada becoming a state when the two men spoke.

Carney was pelted with questions from reporters Thursday about what was said and why he did not reveal that the issue had been raised when he described the conversation last month.

Carney was asked about the call repeatedly and eventually acknowledged Trump had raised the 51st state idea. However he said that Trump has raised the idea often and that the president “has ideas in his head,” which he muses on at times.

The Liberals have framed the election around the question of who can best stand up to Trump. Carney has said multiple times that he is the leader Trump is most likely to respect.

The U.S. president again on Wednesday raised the idea of Canada becoming a U.S. state, while also musing about raising auto tariffs on Canada.

Joshua Freeman, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist

12:05 p.m.: Canada decides what happens to auto sector, not Trump, says Carney

Mark Carney on Thursday dismissed Donald Trump’s remarks about not wanting Canadian cars, reiterating that the U.S. President wanted to break Canada.

“He said he doesn’t want Canada to play any part in the North American auto industry. So, I will be equally clear: this is Canada - we decide what happens here,” Carney said in a speech in British Columbia ahead of Monday’s general election.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he did not want Canadian cars and said a 25 per cent tariff imposed on cars imported from Canada to the United States could go up.

Reuters

11:20 a.m.: Carney’s not a progressive, says Singh

Jagmeet Singh says Mark Carney is no progressive. The NDP leader was asked this morning to react to a Liberal ad—the last one of this election campaign—which aims to show a more progressive side of Carney. A source told CTV News last night that the ad is also meant to target NDP and Green swing voters.

During a question and answer session in Winnipeg, Singh told CTV News correspondent Rachel Aiello that he’s seeing more and more people worried about Carney’s cuts to services, and the Liberals are “trying to hide from that.” Singh added, however, that “Mark Carney can’t hide from his record.”

“At a time when people were worried about the housing crisis, (Carney) was chair of a large corporation--a corporate landlord--that profited off the housing crisis,” said Singh, referring to Brookfield Asset Management.

Singh took aim at the Liberals’ $28 billion in undefined spending cuts, outlined in their platform, as the wrong solution at a time “when we need to invest” in things like health care.

“That is not someone who’s a progressive, that is not someone that’s defending you and your family.”

Phil Hahn, CTVNews.ca election editor-in-chief

9:45 a.m.: Poilievre to scrap EV mandates

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says if his party is elected, it will scrap Canada’s electric vehicle sales mandates.

Canada has mandated that 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold must be electric by 2026 and 100 per cent by 2035.

Electric vehicles made up just shy of 12 per cent of the Canadian sales in 2023, but government rebate programs meant to encourage people to buy EVs came to an end in January.

Read the full story.

The Canadian Press

Liberals lead Conservatives by 4 points; gap narrows on preferred PM

The Liberals have a four-point advantage over the Conservatives on Day 33 of the 36-day federal election campaign.

A three-day rolling sample by Nanos Research conducted on April 21-23 has the Liberals at 43 per cent over the Conservatives, who are up over the past three days at 39 per cent nationally.

The New Democratic Party is at seven per cent, followed by the Bloc Quebecois (up a point at six per cent), Green Party of Canada (three per cent) and the People’s Party of Canada (one per cent).

“The gap is narrowing on both ballot preferences and who Canadians want as prime minister concurrent with the full release of the Conservative platform,” said Nik Nanos, official pollster for CTV News and the Globe and Mail. “As of last night, it is the tightest since the tracking began this election.”

Regionally, Liberals are ahead in the Atlantic, Ontario and Quebec while Conservatives remain dominant in the Prairies and have a slight edge in B.C.

When it comes to whom Canadians prefer as prime minister, Liberal Leader Mark Carney has a nine-point advantage, with 46 per cent choosing him over Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who is at 37 per cent. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh remains a distant third at five per cent.

Read the full story here.

Phil Hahn, CTVNews.ca election editor-in-chief