In a remarkable twist of irony, it was Donald Trump ~ not Mark Carney, nor Pierre Poilievre ~ who became the decisive figure in Canada’s recent federal election. What began as a predictable contest marked by fatigue with a decade of Liberal governance transformed into something else entirely: a referendum on Mr Trump’s vision of Canada. His taunts about turning the country into America’s “51st state,” his belittling of the US-Canada border as “artificially drawn,” and his looming tariffs on Canadian auto exports lit a fire under an electorate that had otherwise seemed resigned to change. New Prime Minister Mark Carney understood this shift better than anyone.

A political newcomer with an elite banking background, he could easily have been cast as out of touch. Instead, he ran not just against his Conservative rival, but against the shadow of a US President determined to reduce Canada to a bargaining chip. In his........

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