SUNDAY RECAP: Conservative infighting continues to flare up as campaign winds down
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Follow the Toronto Sun’s live coverage of Canada’s 45th general election and tariff-related news, with contributions from Brian Lilley, Bryan Passifiume, Lorrie Goldstein and columnists Joe Warmington and Warren Kinsella, as well as contributions from the Sun’s editors and reporters covering the election ahead of the April 28 vote. Plus, you can find all of our election coverage here.
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Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party, with the campaign’s momentum and tightening polls, could yet declare victory in the federal election.
But the party infighting that started early in the campaign already has some sniffing around a potential leadership change, as the Political Hack newsletter’s Tasha Kheiriddin and Stuart Thomson discuss with Brian Lilley this week.
Our 2025 election panel also gets into the surprises that could come with last-minute voters, the curious advertising blitzes of the two front-runners in the race’s dying days and Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s exorbitant platform promises and his growing smugness about his standing.
They also consider the new, likely power status of the Bloc Quebecois, should either party need the separatists to sustain a minority.
ACCESSIBILITY CONCERNS RAISED ABOUT LONGEST BALLOT PROTEST
The long ballot in Carleton has caused accessibility issues at one advanced polling station in the riding, residents say, via the Ottawa Citizen.
Benjamin Firth is a Carleton riding resident who has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. He also has brain damage to the motor and visual cortexes, which means he cannot read words over four to five letters long. He also needs to have a personal support worker come into his home regularly to help with daily activities and physical therapy like stretches to help with tense muscles.
Ninety-one candidates are on the ballot in Carleton this federal election, part of the Longest Ballot protest that targeted the riding. Eighty-five out of the 91 candidates in the riding are part of the protest against Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system.
POLLSTERS BREAK DOWN ELECTION NIGHT POSSIBILITIES
With the Tories and Liberals locked in a virtual dead heat, what will determine the outcome Monday night?If you said “Ontario,” you’d be correct — but according to pollsters Andrew Enns, executive vice-president of Leger, and Darell Bricker, public affairs CEO for Ipsos, there’s always more behind the numbers.
While most polls and pundits suggest we’ll see yet another Liberal minority, what would it take for any of the other possibilities?
“A really strong showing in Ontario,” explained Enns, who said the Liberals need to dominate in both the GTA and southwestern Ontario to secure a majority government.
“For the Conservatives, conversely, a couple of their held ridings in Ontario are in trouble — (flipping those) would be a first sign that the Liberals are having a good night.”
But a Liberal majority, Enns said, lives or dies in Quebec.
READY TO CAST A BALLOT? GOOD, HERE’S HOW
It’s election day on Monday. What now?
For those looking to exercise their democratic rights, Bryan Passifiume has a quick primer on who’s running, how to vote, and how to find out where to vote.
With the federal NDP relegating itself to political irrelevance, this election is a two-horse race between the Liberals — led by newly minted Liberal Leader Mark Carney — and the Conservatives, which has been headed by Pierre Poilievre for the last three years.
TORIES ADD TO THEIR FOUNDATION WITH HOMEBUILDERS’ SUPPORT
Five of the Toronto area’s largest homebuilders are throwing their support behind the Conservatives, Bryan Passifiume writes.
In a joint statement issued Sunday, ARISTA, DECO, Fieldgate, OPUS Homes and Paradise Developments said they’re backing Pierre Poilievre’s Tories in Monday’s election, saying his homebuilding plan makes the most sense.
VANCOUVER ATTACK SHOWS HOW BROKEN CANDA IS: WARMINGTON
This country has lost its way and is on life support, Joe Warmington writes.
When people are not safe at a family street festival or waiting for a bus or going to the mall, it’s time to admit the truth. It’s hell on Earth here now.
When you look at those innocent people mowed down by a car at a community event in Vancouver, please tell the truth about what you see. Canada is no longer recognizable. It’s spinning out of control, and no one in charge seems to have any answer.
No matter how it’s spun, Canadians are no longer safe anywhere. This is the reality as people struggling to make ends meet go to the ballot box on Monday to decide just who is best to clean up this horrible mess.
Read Warmington’s take on the situation here.
TIME TO ADDRESS CARNEY’S STINT AT BROOKFIELD
First Bermuda, then the Cayman Islands, and now the Isle of Man.
Brookfield, the company that Liberal Leader Mark Carney chaired from 2020 until January, has corporate offices set up in these countries which are known for their favourable tax avoidance loopholes.
No. 4 Belgravia Rd., Unit 5, in Onchan, Isle of Man, may look like a regular residential apartment dwelling. It’s a small apartment on a tiny island known as an international tax haven that’s listed as the headquarters for Brookfield IOM.
But it has multiple uses, Joe Warmington writes.
ENOUGH OF THE FAILURES, ENOUGH OF THE LIBERAL RULE: GUNTER
You should have heard a loud pop on Thursday — the sound of Liberal Mark Carney’s “I’m the best leader to deal with Trump” bubble bursting.
On March 28, Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump held what Carney and his aides called a “positive” phone call. Afterward, Carney insisted “the president respected Canada’s sovereignty … both in his private and public comments.”
In many voters’ minds, that settled the question of which leader would be better able to deal with Trump after Monday’s election. Carney had made Trump back down; he would clearly be better than Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Except Carney’s version of the facts diverged from reality — by about 180 degrees.
ELECTIONS CANADA STICKING WITH LOW-TECH COUNTING METHOD
As more provinces and cities use electronic tabulators to speed up vote counts, Elections Canada has opted to stick with a low-tech method before the federal election: The hand count.
This came as a surprise to some people voting at advance polls in B.C., the Vancouver Sun reports, where tabulators were used for the first time during October’s provincial election. Poll workers handed out ballots while fielding comments about voting technology.
While Elections Canada has studied the issue, and recognizes automatic ballot-counting machines are “successfully and securely used in some other jurisdictions in Canada and around the world,” there are several reasons it hasn’t made the switch — at least, not yet.
James Hale, B.C. media spokesman for Elections Canada, said the use of paper ballots and hand-counting at polling stations remains the best approach because of its “efficiency and security.”
Elections Canada will continue to study the issue and report “any significant findings” to Parliament so it can make decisions about how Canadians vote in federal elections, he said.
LEADERS OFFER CONDOLENCES TO B.C. VICTIMS
The leaders of the three main federal parties paused their election campaigns Sunday to express their sorrow and offer condolences to victims and their families hours after a vehicle attack in Vancouver killed eleven people and injured many more.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney said in his role as prime minister that he had been briefed by Public Safety Minister David McGuinty and his national security adviser and would meet with British Columbia Premier David Eby and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim later Sunday.
McGuinty also had spoken with B.C. Public Safety Minister Garry Begg.
Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai said a 30-year-old local man was arrested after an SUV plowed through a crowded South Vancouver street at high speed on Saturday, leaving a trail of wreckage and victims on the ground.
On Sunday, Rai said 11 people had died and the number could climb in the coming days.
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