Beaches-East York MP Erskine-Smith confirms ‘good likelihood’ of federal election call by the end of March
By ALAN SHACKLETON
There is a “good likelihood” that Canadians will soon be going to the polls in a federal election, according to Beaches-East York Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith.
In an interview with Beach Metro Community News on Wednesday, March 12, Erskine-Smith, who is the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, made the comment when asked if Canadians could expect a federal election to be called by the end of this month.
“I would say there’s a good likelihood of that,” he said.
Erskine-Smith spoke with Beach Metro Community News about the naming of Mark Carney as the new leader of the federal Liberal Party earlier this week.
Carney is now also Canada’s prime minister-designate. Former leader of the federal Liberals and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially stepped down from both positions on Sunday, March 9, after Carney’s selection at the Liberal leadership convention. Carney is expected to be officially sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister on Friday, March 14, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
A supporter of Carney’s from the start of the federal Liberal leadership race back in January of this year, shortly after Trudeau announced his intention to step down as prime minister once a new leader was selected by the party, Erskine-Smith said Carney is the right leader to deal with the threats Canada is now facing from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Erskine-Smith cited Carney’s experience as both Governor of the Bank of Canada (from 2008 to 2013) and Governor of the Bank of England (from 2013 to 2020) in dealing with political and financial challenges.
“He has a great deal of experience dealing with national threats from the Great Recession of 2008 and Brexit (when the United Kingdom voted to remove itself from the European Union in 2016),” said Erskine-Smith.
He said Carney’s, and Canada’s, approach to the tariff and other threats coming from President Trump will be “serious” and strategic.
“We have already seen a forceful response with the retaliatory tariffs starting with $30 billion today (March 11) and $125 billion if President Trump does not stand down. We need to continue the forceful defence across all levels of government and across all party lines,” said Erskine-Smith.
“A targeted response is warranted.”
However, Erskine-Smith pointed out that there is a high level of unpredictability for governments around the world that are now dealing with the actions of the Trump Administration.
“Every day we wake up it’s a different threat,” he said.
As of this week, the United States invoked a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, and is also threatening many more tariffs including on auto parts and vehicles from both Canada and Mexico to be started on April 2.
“This is a completely moving target,” said Erskine-Smith. “What does April 2 look like and what is an off-ramp for this?”
All of which means Canada will need a federal government and leader that has a clear mandate to deal with President Trump, he said.
The fact that Carney does not have seat in the House of Commons and is prime minister-designate only by virtue of the vote by federal Liberal Party members on March 9 is a point that could be used against him any ongoing negotiations with the United States.
“I would expect he wants to seek a mandate and we could have an election sooner rather than later,” said Erskine-Smith of the chances of a federal election being called before Parliament is set to resume sitting again on Monday, March 24.
“All the opposition parties say they will take us down if we go back to Parliament, and we have to have an election this year.”
Erskine-Smith said it was important for Carney to have an elected seat in the House of Commons.
In the near future, as Canada continues with its “forceful response” to economic and national security threats it will also be “important for our prime minister to have a mandate,” said Erskine-Smith.
If and when a federal election is called it will see a race between the now Carney-led Liberals, who with Trudeau as leader were elected as a majority government in 2015 and then as minority governments in 2019 and 2021, and the Conservative Party under leader Pierre Poilievre.
A Nanos poll report released on March 11 showed the two parties very close in support among Canadians.
“The latest Nanos federal ballot tracking has the Conservatives at 35.7 per cent, followed by the Liberals at 34.7 per cent, the NDP at 14.9 per cent, the BQ at 7.9 per cent, the Greens at 3.8 per cent and the People’s Party of Canada at 2.1,” said the report which was based on polling that ended on March 7.
