Mark Carney expected to call federal election on Sunday

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to launch a federal election campaign on Sunday and send Canadians to the polls as soon as April 28.

While sources would not confirm the date of the vote, federal campaigns must run at least 37 days.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January and it is supposed to return on March 24.

But Carney is expected to ask Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to dissolve Parliament the day before, on March 23.

This will be Canada’s 45th federal election.

A Liberal party source, whom The Canadian Press is not naming because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the party’s election plans, said ministerial offices were emptying out on Thursday and that MPs are heading back home to get ready for the campaign.

The source said that local campaigns across the country are getting their offices ready and setting up phones. In some cases, the source said, campaigns started looking for office space weeks ago.

On the Liberal Party of Canada website there are dozens of events listed for everything from training door knockers to setting up sign crews, and some campaign office openings.

The Conservative Party has not responded to inquiries about their election plans.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies and rhetoric have fuelled a rise in Canadian nationalism, strengthening the Liberals’ prospects.

A recent poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute shows the federal Liberals have surged to 42 per cent, five points above the Conservatives and leader Pierre Poilievre. Three months ago, the Liberals were polling at a near-all-time low of just 16 per cent.

Carney was sworn in as Canada’s new prime minister on March 14. The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.

Handling of Trump could be top of mind for voters

Carney met his Cabinet and eliminated a consumer carbon price on his first day, undoing Trudeau’s signature climate policy. He called his government “Canada’s new government” in an effort to distance himself from Trudeau.

“We will never ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States,” Carney said. “America is not Canada. We are very fundamentally a different country.”

Carney has said he’s ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. This week, he made his first trip abroad, visiting France and the U.K. before stopping in Iqaluit.

Ahead of the expected election call on Sunday, Trump expressed his preference for a Liberal victory under Carney over the opposition Conservatives. However, many political pundits have said it’s believed to be posturing by the current U.S. President, who regularly referred to Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”

Trump put 25 per cent tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and threatened sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products on April 2. He has threatened economic coercion in his annexation threats and suggested the border is a fictional line.

The U.S. trade war and Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games.