Dutch PM congratulates liberal Mark Carney on winning Canadian election
Prime Minister Dick Schoof congratulated Mark Carney on winning the Canadian election. The Carney’s Liberal Party won on an anti-Trump campaign, despite the polls indicating a significant lead for the conservatives as little as a month ago.
“My sincere congratulations to Mark Carney on winning the Canadian elections and continuing as Prime Minister,” Schoof said on X, emphasizing the ties between Canada and the Netherlands. “I look forward to continuing the close cooperation between our countries and to welcoming him to the NATO Summit in The Hague on 24 and 25 June.”
Carney claimed the victory in a speech, saying he looked forward to working with all parties in parliament. It is not yet clear whether the Liberals have won an absolute majority in parliament. Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party, the Liberals’ biggest competitor, also admitted defeat.
A month and a half ago, the Conservative Party still had an overwhelming lead in the polls. But then Carney took over as Prime Minister from Justin Trudeau, and the Liberals made a comeback with Carney’s firm stance against American President Donald Trump’s trade war and threatened annexation of Canada. Carney’s campaign was fully focused on Canadian independence, with the Prime Minister repeatedly stressing that Canada would never be the 51st state of the United States.
Trump’s second presidency seems to be slowing the rise of far-right nationalism in many parts of the world. In the Netherlands, too, Geert Wilders’ PVV is losing support after the populist party’s big win in the parliamentary elections in 2023. This week, the left-wing GroenLinks-PvdA overtook the PVV in the polls for the first time since the elections in November 2023.
